


Starfighter: Nova

by SleipnirSupernova



Category: Starfighter (Comic), Starfighter Eclipse
Genre: Adventure, Exploration, First Person, Gen, M/M, Multi, Orgy, Seduction, Sex, Threesome, Yaoi, m/m - Freeform, space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2016-02-03
Packaged: 2018-04-07 13:11:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 31,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4264437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleipnirSupernova/pseuds/SleipnirSupernova
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chanun is just a surfer dude from the Islands drafted into a war he didn't choose. Now, he has to navigate the maze of relationships that make up the Sleipnir and figure out how to survive both the external battles and internal demons within the ship. Takes place in the same universe as Starfighter, although in this one the events of Eclipse did not happen. Very exploratory, and still a work in progress. Commentary and thoughts are appreciated!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Boarding

**Author's Note:**

> First, some background on me - I'm a writer and it's been a pretty dark time for me as I've gone through a major transition in my life. Starfighter has helped to carry me, to make me more productive, and lift me from whatever depression I may have been suffering from. The world and characters created by HamletMachine are awesome, and I'm thankful for them.
> 
> All characters property of HamletMachine, except for the ones that I've created, of course. 
> 
> I do have a Tumblr, but I don't Tumbl much as of yet, so if anyone wants to hear questions answered, feel free to leave comments here and I'd be happy to oblige. And if I do end up Tumbling more, my username is sleipnirsupernova. Maybe I will - we shall see.
> 
> I've already written a number of chapters (including at least 1 sex scene) and will attempt to proofread/edit before posting each chapter. This'll be a first person fic, and I hope you enjoy! Any thoughts - feel free to leave them. 
> 
> Best - SleipyNova

I rubbed the bleariness from my eyes as the doors of the ship opened up, revealing glints of the sunny, arid planet in front of me. A massive craft sat before us, the word Sleipnir etched across the side. I took a deep breath and stepped out, inhaling and exhaling the hot, heavy fumes as men and women around me bustled, attempting to organize various registrations, trying to find comrades they had met before in the academy, and whatnot. I knew no one here, so all I could do was wear the goofy, relaxed face that had been my trademark ever since I was a child in the isles and hope for the best.

I fiddled with the choker around my neck, scratching the back as I could feel the sun beating down on me, trying to burn my already browned skin. I flexed my toes, feeling so constrained in the military-ordered legging/shoe things that I was forced to wear. I’d have much rather rested them in the ocean, or a pool, potentially over a brew with some of my surfer bros, but unfortunately that was not going to be possible.

I was drafted. They weren’t. Shit happens.

Before the front of the ship, my new home for the next…well, at least eight months, the Gov had said, were metal tables where this new base’s registrars were organizing all of the new additions to the Sleipnir. I got in line behind some dude with an undercut and waited, shoulders back, arms slightly folded, just like Astor had taught me at the academy.

The line moved slowly, giving me a ton of time to collect my thoughts and think about the ramifications of the entire situation, how just months ago my biggest problem was figuring out which beaches to hit up over the summer vacation, and now I was going to pretty much be thrust into the middle of a war zone any day. I felt my breath catch in the back of my throat for a second, then I swallowed it again, rolling my shoulders to ensure that it went down smoothly.

“You did well in the Academy, you’ll be fine.” I told myself. That was correct, actually - I even had been shocked by my scores in the final assessment. I pretty much had a choice of whether or not to become a Fighter or Navigator - I had the build for a Fighter, definitely, thanks to years spent battling the waves at home, and in the final physical aptitude challenge I had scored highest out of anyone in my troop when it came to Reflexes and Evasion.

Then again, even though I had never been extremely book smart, I also ended up doing surprisingly well in my Navigation test. I scored around the middle in terms of the written aspect, but my evaluator commented that in the practical portion, I was the only person to consider utilizing a Stealth maneuver - well, at least a maneuver that could work.

“You’re an interesting one,” he had told me as I sat in my final meeting, still mulling over what my final choice would be. “You could really do either if you wanted. You could be a phenomenal Fighter, for sure, with your quick trigger finger, ability in hand-to-hand…heck, even your underwater acumen could prove to be beneficial should it come to that. Then again, though…you seem to have a burgeoning tactical mind, as well. And Navigator would seem to fit your temperament better, from my vantage point at least.” He shrugged.

“Where would they need me more, Commander?” I asked, trying to be helpful.

“That’s not how they operate, and you know that,” he’d responded, rubbing his buzzed scalp. “And please, call me Astor, like I’ve told you time and time again.”

I grinned sheepishly. “Sorry.”

The line moved as I was caught up in my own mind. I shook it like I was getting water out of my ears, feeling the weight of my tight, black hair tied up behind me in a ponytail. Even though I had not chosen this path, I had to admit, there was something absolutely intoxicating about the thought that, potentially in a matter of days, I could be in the middle of an interstellar battle for the fate of all of the Alliance against those malignant Colterons. I was a little scared, sure, but then I remembered what Astor had told me in our final meeting before I went aboard the ship, ready to depart for my new journey.

“Here’s the thing,” he had said as we sat across the table from one another, both acting like we were eating dinner but really just considering what would happen at daybreak. “Every occupant aboard the Sleipnir has something about them that is special, even if they don’t know it yet. Internally, there’s a lot of respect in our office for that ship. It’s a young ship, full of exuberance, talent, and...cockiness.”

Astor choked a little bit on that last word and guffawed. I bit my lip in a smile - of course, I’d heard the rumors about the Sleipnir’s reputation for sexual proclivity. I was prepared for it, although I’m not the kind of person who’s easily wooed, whether by faux bad-boys or pining, needy twinks. This was a job, first and foremost, after all. Earth needed protection and I was tasked to heed her call.

Astor continued. “We lobbied for you to get on there because we think you could be a really nice complement to it, though. It’s your attitude. Sometimes, a calming influence is exactly what a ship like that needs, and your ability under pressure was off the charts based on our testing.”

“Hah, thanks,” I said with a smile. It was my blessing and my curse, I supposed. I always tried to put out the appearance of being as chill as possible, fulfilling every Islander stereotype in the process. However, some saw this as arrogance rather than relaxation, as if everything came easy for me and I could not be bothered to help anyone else. I didn’t have a lot of close friends - at least, I didn’t have a lot of friends who worked with me in a competitive capacity. Too self-assured for my own good, I guess. Maybe the guys on the ship would be different.

++++++++++++++++

The line wriggled forward again, and I could see the front now. I was almost there.

The final conversation I had with Astor kept echoing over and over again, in my head, as I gave him a hug goodbye after leaving his room for the night.

“I’d keep you here longer, but you’ll need your rest for tomorrow,” he had said, his arms wrapped around my shoulders. I could feel his muscles tensed. He had made it so clear that I would be missed, by him at least, and I really appreciated that, even if I couldn’t necessarily vocalize it. He understood that perspective.

“I believe in you,” he whispered, looking at me straight in the eyes, his greens locked into my blues, our noses touching. The bond we had formed over the past few months was strong, exactly what I needed to make it through the rigors of the Academy. I came a boy, I would leave a man.

“I’ll miss you,” I said back with a grin, giving Astor a light kiss on his forehead, making him blush a bit. I loved getting to him like that, making him feel just uncomfortable enough to have his body betray his normally stalwart attitude. He kissed me back on the lips.

“Oh, you’ll fit in with the Sleipnir cats perfectly, I know it.” He patted me on the back and broke off our hug, saying one more goodbye with his eyes as he began to close the door.

“Kick some ass out there for me.” I nodded with a smile, and then Astor was gone, his soft eyes burned into my memory for all-time. I’d miss him.

++++++++++++++++

“Name?”

I started, noticing that almost as if on autopilot, I had moved to the front of the line. Looked like the other dude, I think his name was Helios, had been taken by the receptionist on my right. I gulped and looked forward.

“Taskname is Chanun, ma’am.” Cha-noon, from the back of my throat .I’d have to get used to that sounds. It scratched me and made me cough a bit as I brought the sound up from the back of my throat.

“Are you sure of your Class?”

I had made my decision the night before. When I had confirmed it, I did it with a touch of dread, but I knew it was the right choice.

“Fighter.”

The woman looked through her records and then gave me a key card. “You’re in Room 300. At 2100, there will be a fuller briefing for all Fighters and Navigators that are coming aboard this ship. Welcome to the Sleipnir.” She finished her spiel with a smile. I grinned back, took my key, and walked inside.

Time for a new journey, a new opportunity. I was scared, but stoked.


	2. Ezekiel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Worldbuilding is necessary - now we get to meet Chanun's navigator! I just finished up another chapter that was pretty much entirely a sex scene - I think y'all will be pleased with it when it comes out ;).
> 
> This chapter is pretty short - I'll probably be posting another one in three days, want to make sure I spread these out. 
> 
> Feel free to leave any comments or feedback, and I hope you enjoy!
> 
> \- Sleipy Nova
> 
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I walked down the long hallways of the ship with a strut and a sigh, beginning to take in the surroundings. The Sleipnir was pretty massive, much bigger than anything that I was expecting. I’d surely have to take a more lengthy tour a bit later, after we had disembarked. The ship was pretty much empty, as many of those who were already part of the team on the Sleipnir had taken the landing time as an opportunity to stretch their legs and get off the cruiser. I could see why they’d want that; it must get pretty stuffy being stuck in the same place 24/7.

I finally made it to Room 300. Bag in hand, I opened the door, startling the person who’s back was turned. He spun around and looked at me as I entered.

“Oh!” He gasped, a hand running toward his mouth. I gave a sideways grin.

“You must be my Navigator.” I held out a hand in a friendly greeting. “I’m Cha-” I couldn’t help it, I coughed a bit again as I said my name. Damn, it got caught in the back of my throat way too much. My opposite number still stared at me, his face fairly emotionless. I gathered myself and continued my introduction.

“Chanun. Sorry about that, dude. Nice to meet you.” He shook my hand, my thicker, darker fingers enveloping his more lithe, pale ones.

“Hi, Chanun. I’m...um...Ezekiel,” he said softly, having no trouble with my name’s pronounciation. As I met Ezekiel, I took a closer look at him. He was shorter than me, about 5 foot 9 to my 6 feet even, his body thin compared to my stronger, thicker build. His hair was cut fairly short, albeit a bit spiky on top, its short black color contrasting the Navigator’s light skin perfectly. His eyes were a deep chestnut brown, but it was what framed them that shocked me a bit.

“You got specs?” I asked quizzically. Glasses were normally not permitted in combat - they were seen as being detrimental in high pressure situations given their unwieldiness and potential to break. Most Fighters had to get contact lenses, at the very least, but I had always heard that it was mandatory for Navigators to get laser surgery to ensure that they had 20/10 vision. Well, at least recently. Some Commanders who had come in with glasses were able to keep them, as long as they weren’t directly running combat missions anymore.

Ezekiel bit his lip, nervous. “Yeah...I couldn’t go through with the laser,” he said, looking away from me, almost ashamed. “And my eyes are too sensitive for contacts. I got an exemption from the Commander on this ship. They’re giving me a chance, but they said that one mistake where my glasses screw something up, and I wouldn’t get an option next time. Makes sense, since I think he has specs too. He’s sympathetic. ” He looked a bit sheepish, probably not making the first impression he wanted to with his new partner-in-crime. In the back of my mind, I thought vaguely about some of the ramifications of what Ezekiel was saying, but I pushed them away.

“It’s cool, man. I trust you,” I said genially, patting him on the back. “I’m guessing if you qualified for an exemption, there must be a reason why they let that come to pass.” Ezekiel grinned a little more now, his fears assuaged. He was lucky to get the least judgmental fighter possible.

“Yeah, well...I aced the Navigator exam. Stayed up for three days straight to get it done. Figured that as long as I’m going to be drafted for this war, I may as well try my best.” He jumped up and ran over to his bag, taking out a folder full of sketches, maneuvers and strategies. “I definitely have some stuff we need to try in the VR sims. It’ll take a lot of practice, but I think we can do some really, really cool shit.”

I smiled and nodded. “Definitely, bro. I’m excited to work with you. I think we’ll kill it together.” I leaned back on the bed and kicked off my boots, throwing off my socks and letting my feet breathe a little bit. “So, where you from, man?”

“East Mainland,” he said, shrugging as he began to put his things away. I could have guessed as much from his pale skin. “I got drafted, like you I’m guessing.”

“Yup,” I responded. “I’m from the Islands. Got the East Coast/West Coast thing going for us, huh?”

“I guess so.” I looked at the two bags Ezekiel had brought with him onto the ship. Both were larger than the one sack that I had currently stowed on my bed. 

“Who’s that in the photo?” I asked as Ezekiel put a frame onto his dresser drawer.

“Just my family. Mom, dad, three sisters. I’m the only boy, and the oldest.”

“Ah, so the man of the house,” I quipped with a slight grin. Ezekiel raised an eyebrow, although I did see a smile creep across his face.

“Well, I’m just trying to set a good example, you know. I told my sisters I’d see them when I got back, and I intend to keep that promise. So, in case you hadn’t already realized it, you’re in pretty good hands in terms of your navigator.”

I stretched my arms and leaned back on my bed, my black uniform tightly gripping my body. I wasn’t used to such constrained clothes when I was at home, but I had acclimated to the stretchy, rubbery feel of the suit during my time at the Academy. 

“And you got a pretty kickass fighter yourself,” I said with a wink. “I think we’ll make a killer team.”

“Same,” Ezekiel said, walking over and sitting next to me on my bed. “I’m happy that you seem like a good guy, too. I know certain fighters have a bit of a...temper.”

“Yeah, I pretty much just go with the flow,” I leaned back on my hands and sat up, my muscles feeling nice and loose. “No need to get dramatic, we’re all adults. Let’s just do our fucking jobs.”

“Totally,” Ezekiel said determinedly, pumping his fist a little bit. “I’m happy that you’re focused on the task at hand, too. I know that you must have heard the rumors about the Sleipnir.”

I shrugged. “I’m not gonna worry about THAT right now. It’ll come organically, I’m guessing. No need to get a rep as a whore or anything.”

Ezekiel harrumphed. “I know I’m pretty focused on the task at hand, I expect you to be too.”

I raised an eyebrow, getting the vibe that my comrade either took himself too seriously or, dare I say, was a bit of a prude. “Don’t worry, Zeke. Ass is on the back burner for me. Trust.”

Ezekiel’s expression softened. “Zeke. Cool name. I like it.”

“Zeke it is, then,” I said with a smile. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to take a quick nap before the thing at 9. Can you set an alarm?”

He nodded and I lay down, closing my eyes and catching some Zs before that afternoon’s meeting.


	3. Meeting The New Faces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 is up! I'm going to try and update this once every three days or so. Momentum is beginning to build...now we get to meet some of Chanun and Zeke's fellow Fighters and Navs :)
> 
> Of course, all characters except for Chanun and Zeke (thus far) are property of HamletMachine.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> \- SleipyNova

After a nice nap, Zeke gave me a nudge. We got up together and then walked to the Briefing Room. All of those that had been out and about earlier in the day had returned for the meeting, and the room was bustling with activity.

Zeke and I stood in a corner, just regarding the scene. Many males, and some females, milled about, catching up on the day’s adventures as we just stood there and waited for the day’s events to begin. I looked at Zeke and saw some discomfort on his face; he clearly wasn't used to being in huge crowds. I was a bit more adept at reconciling such situations - people tended to naturally gravitate toward me. I was something to be stared at, an anomaly.

“Yo,” I heard someone call over to me, waving. It was the dude with the undercut from earlier, and he was waving over to me. He was standing next to the man who was most certainly his Navigator, a tan, lithe guy with a two-toned mop on his head. I grabbed Zeke and walked over.

“Hey dude,” I intoned. “First day?”

“Yup,” he smiled, his teeth glinting. This guy seemed full of exuberance, whomever he was, his light eyes mesmerizing as he looked me over. “I recognized you from the line earlier, thought it might be smart to stick together since we’re all new on the ship. I’m Helios. And this is...”

“I can speak for myself, Helios,” the Navigator interrupted, sticking out his hand and smiling. “I’m Selene. Nice to meet you.” 

“Cool, dudes. I’m Chanun.” I shook both hands, secretly proud of myself for being able to finally pronounce the name correctly. 

“I’m Zeke,” my partner chimed in.

“Awesome, nice to meet you guys,” Helios said with a smile. Damn, his fucking eyes. I was melting a little bit, although I was able to keep my composure. I remembered what I had discussed with Zeke earlier; I'd control myself. At least for the time being. More dudes like Helios, though, and it would be difficult to stay pure and chaste.

“So, what brings you all onto the Sleipnir?” Selene asked, his voice crisp, almost like a radio DJ’s.

“We were both drafted,” Zeke answered. “You?”

“Same,” Selene said. “This one volunteered, though.”

“Really?” Zeke asked, looking at Helios with a bit of confused appreciation. I was surprised, too. 

“Yeah,” Helios said nonchalantly. “Here to serve and protect.” I could tell from the slight shakiness in his voice that there was something else there, a secret that he was keeping, but I wasn’t going to press him on it. Not now, anyway.

“So you’re not Stateside, then?” Zeke inquired.

“Nah, I’m from The Colonies,” Helios responded. “Selene’s from The Southwest, though.”

Selene nodded. “Yup.”

All of a sudden, we heard a buzzing sound and a hush come over the room. Everyone began to scramble for seats. Our quartet stayed together, sitting in a corner of the room as a group of men ascended to the podium.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the oldest of the group boomed over the mic, “silence please.” The room immediately quieted down, and the man grinned.

“Good afternoon, all, and to our new shipmates, welcome aboard the Sleipnir. Myself, Commander Bering, and this man on my right, Encke, are your lead fighters.” He gestured to the dark-skinned man with intense eyes on his immediate right. He seemed intense, I thought. It might be tough to live up to his expectations.

“These two are Commander Cook and Keeler, your lead navigators.” Bering gestured to his far left, too two men with blonde hair, one older with a closely cropped cut and specs, the other younger with a long braid and smiling eyes. I recalled Zeke telling me about Cook; he must have been the one to lobby for my Navigator to keep his glasses through his deployment.

“For those new members of the ship, you have been enlisted to help with our battle against the Colteron threat,” Commander Bering continued, his eyes holding the attention of everyone in the room. “Thank you for joining us - we are thrilled to have you aboard the Sleipnir. If you need anything, feel free to reach out to us or your fellow soldiers. We’re family here.” He paused and there was a light smattering of applause. I looked around and saw eyes going everywhere, clearly trying to fixate on the new people. I caught eyes with this one blond with wild-eyed hair sitting next to a fighter with an eyepatch. He grinned at me and then turned back to the podium, where Bering was set to continue.

“New recruits, you will receive schedules detailing your mandatory regimens tonight on your coms. For the rest of you, we hope that you enjoyed your breaks, but tomorrow it’s back to the grind. We have some new intelligence that the Navigators will need to be analyzing tomorrow, so it’ll be all hands on deck. New recruits, I’d try and find a buddy so you’re kept up to speed on what’s going on. I’m sure one of the current Navs would be happy to help.”

I looked over at Zeke and saw his eyes light up. Information was his lifeblood. I knew he’d keep me in the loop if anything crazy was going on.

“Fighters, just keep on training. We may be layering on some new methods in the next couple of weeks, especially since we may have discovered some new Colteron colonies in some...well...less than desirable locales. However, for now, it’s business as usual.”

“So, that’s all for today. We’ll take off at 2400 so mind the shaky floor then until we get back into orbit.” Bering concluded with a smile making its way on his mustached face. “May the Sleipnir stay strong.” We all grunted in assent, and then the crowd was loud again as Fighters and Navigators alike began walking around again, now free from their previous engagement.

“So, that was cool,” Helios said, yawning a bit as he slapped me on the back. I turned to him and grinned.

“Yup. Feels crazy...we’re aboard the freaking Sleipnir and tomorrow begins our training. I should be scared, but I’m not for some reason.”

“Adrenaline does crazy things to the brain,” Selene mused as we began to make our way over to the mess hall. Subconsciously, it seemed like we had all come to the realization that we were starving. We grabbed some food and sat as a group, just eating and talking about stuff.

“So, Selene,” Zeke began saying as he swallowed a bit of an apple. “I was thinking that after we find out our training schedules, we can reconnect and then try to find a Navigator to help keep us up to speed on everything going on with this “new mission.” Selene nodded in assent; I could tell that he was totally devoted to the mission as well. He'd be good company to keep.

“I hope there are some other nice Navigators around here,” Zeke said, perhaps just a tad too loudly as the room was filling up a bit more. I raised an eyebrow in both amusement and slight embarrassment. Helios caught my look and giggled a bit into his food. “This place feels kind of cliquey.”

“We’ve barely met anyone so far, dude,” I told Zeke as I patted his shoulder. “Relax. I’m sure there are some other cool people about. We’ve already made two new friends, see?” He looked at me and took a deep breath, then turned away. I smiled and moved back toward my food, when all of a sudden I saw another person next to me.

“Hey,” my new neighbor said, holding out a hand for me to shake. It was the blonde Navigator from earlier, and now I was able to get a good look at him. He had bright eyes, a mane of hair, and was well-built; not super thin, but fit and solid. He smiled, his bright teeth glinting. “I’m Ethos. You’re new?”

“I’m Chanun, and yeah, man. Nice to meet you.” He blushed a bit, some red finding its way into his cheeks.

“Heheh...sorry. I saw you from across the room earlier and felt compelled to say hi. I hope you enjoy it here!” His enthusiasm wasn’t exactly infectious as much as it felt put-on, but I kept my composure and leaned back a bit.

“Hey Zeke, this Navigator seems cool. Why don’t you say hi?” Zeke turned to face him and nodded. Ethos opened his mouth for a second, then closed it.

“You have glasses?” He asked. Zeke sighed.

“Yup, got an exemption to wear them. Eyes are too sensitive for laser or contacts...at least for now.”

Ethos looked confused for have a second, but then brightened. “Cool! Commander Cook...he wasn’t at the ceremony because he’s in the med bay...but he has glasses too. Must be a reason why you ended up on this ship.”

Zeke shrugged. “I guess so. I know they’re supposed to be stricter about that now, but I got lucky.”

I gave Zeke another pat. “Nah, he’s being modest. He’s a strategic genius, from what I’ve seen thus far.” Now, it was Zeke’s turn to blush. I took the opportunity to allow Helios and Selene to introduce themselves to Ethos as well. We all chatted and ate for the next hour or so until we had all completed our meals.

“So, catch me later, OK?” Ethos said as we all walked out. “I have to meet up with my Fighter right now for some training, but both you Navigators find me tomorrow and I’ll let you know what’s up with this new initiative.” Zeke and Selene nodded and both agreed. Ethos turned to Helios and gave him a hug, then grasped me around my waist.

“And if you ever want to talk about anything, Chanun, you can come find me too,” he hummed in my ear. “Room 293.” 

I didn’t expect anything like this to happen this quickly, but it really did seem like the Sleipnir rumors were true; there was more dicking on this ship than anywhere else. I knew the effect that I had on some people; even on the island, I was fetishized a bit by men and women alike for my combination of skin tone, attitude, and, of course, build. I mostly just went with the flow, turning down the undesirables and gaining a little bit of experience with some people I felt more comfortable with. I was prepared - and, dare I say, expecting - to meet some cool people on this vessel who I may want to bone.

Still, I remembered what Zeke and I had discussed earlier. Fucking anyone - Ethos or anyone else - would have to wait a bit, at least until after we had gotten acclimated to what was going on. Heck, Astor was still in the back of my mind - he’d been the first one who I’d...allowed to reciprocate, shall we say. I needed some time to gather my thoughts and figure out who was worth it.

I’d still be able to lay some groundwork, though, even if I wanted to stay high and dry for now.

“Sure, Ethos,” I hummed back, wrapping one of my long, muscled arms around the small of his back and squeezing right above the nape of his butt, hearing the absolute faintest of moans in my ear. “I’ll be sure to let you know if I ever want to chat.” 

We ended our embrace and my troop walked out, excited to explore the remainder of the ship we would now call home.


	4. A Little Sparring

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NEW CHARACTERS INTRODUCED! And Chanun gets to show off some of his moves in the gym, maybe even impress some of the bois ;). 
> 
> Thanks for all who have read so far - things are building and I'm pretty sure that we're almost at the tipping point where things are going to get a bit faster and more furious. Cain and Abel (and co) are coming soon as well, do not fret! 
> 
> And thanks to Mary for the first comment! Definitely sort of what I'm trying to go for with Zeke; while he's not the main character, he'll have a lot of development himself as he begins to try and find his way on the ship. I have something special in the works for him...
> 
> Of course, all characters except for Chanun, Zeke, Kama, and Rati are property of HamletMachine.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> \- SleipyNova

“Finally! The gym!” Helios exclaimed as we made it to the place where any Fighter worth his salt would spend most of his time. Given that today was a vacation day for everyone, the space was fairly full. Fighters and Navigators alike were on the treadmills and machines, lifting, sweating, and preparing for the rigors of space travel. Helios sprinted over to one of the pullup bars and did a full swing on it, flipping over the top and back around. Selene just watched him, arms crossed, walking over to admire the flexible Colonist.

I looked at Zeke with a grin.

“You lift at all, man?” He flushed.

“Uh...not really. I’m not super athletic.”

“No reason not to start now, dude. Gotta be built for the job that you’re assigned to do.” I walked over to a 20 pound dumbell and picked it up with my left hand, easily bringing it over. Zeke put his hands up. 

“Uhh...maybe when there are less people here,” he said, his face turning bright red. I shrugged. I didn’t want to embarrass my Navigator, especially not on our first day. That’d be a bad look.

“No worries, man. How about this? You can make it your mission to get me up to speed on the strategic stuff, and I’ll help you get a little bit stronger?”

Zeke smiled and nodded. “Sounds like a plan...but let’s start when there are less people around, OK? I think I’m going to head out.”

I patted him on the shoulder. “You sure? The night is young?” 

“I’m sure,” he said, a look of resignation on his face. “I’m not feeling this. Not right now. I think if you’re going to stay, I’ll head back and prepare for tomorrow.”

“OK, dude.” We gave each other an awkward half hug goodbye, and I walked back over to the weights area. I noticed a jump rope on the ground and I picked it up and started to get into the groove, doing some jumps back and forth as a warmup. As I moved and gyrated from side-to-side, I thought about the day that had been, everything lifechanging that had happened. It would be a work in progress with Zeke, for sure, but I definitely saw how we complimented each other. Some in the Academy glamourized the Fighter/Navigator bond as being almost like a courtship, where fickleness was appreciated. One of our Instructors even said that he had requested a switch from his Fighter within a week due to, as he called it, a “lack of physical and mental compatibility.”

I was going to give Zeke a chance. I saw the value he brought. Also, he could be pretty cute in his own way. I’d find him a boy soon enough - well, if he was Kinsey 2 to 6, anyway. There weren’t too many Kinsey 1s around anymore, but if he was, well...good luck on this ship.

“Hey!” I heard someone shout in my direction. I stopped my jumping, a little bit of sweat on my brow. I saw a Fighter and Navigator come over. I didn’t recognize either of them. The Fighter on the left was a bit taller than me with a bright red mohawk running down the middle of his scalp, while his Nav on the right was short but built like a tank, a black cowlick framing the middle of his handsome face.

“Sup, dudes?” I smiled and held out my hand. The redhead shook it with a strong grip.

“Name’s Kama,” he said, grinning. I noticed he had a small gap in between his two front teeth; “And this guy’s Rati. We both just came aboard the ship today, and he thought he’d recognized you in line. New as well?”

“Yup,” I responded. “I’m Chanun. Nice to meet you!”

“Cool,” Kama said as he patted me on the back. “Getting your space legs under you?”

“Yup,” I said with a shrug. “I was just going to do sprints or something. Gotta get back into the groove and all that.”

“Want to spar?” Kama asked, pointing to the ring in the corner. I nodded. Why not?

We went over to the ring and both got into fighting stances, the big red head lining up with his left hand in the lead. Rati watched us from the corner. He seemed a bit shy.

“Just warning you, man, I was one of the best in my class in terms of hand-to-hand punch power,” Kama said with some swagger in his voice. “And I don’t intend on going easy.” 

I got up on my toes in a fighter’s stance, thinking about everything Astor had taught me regarding hand-to-hand. Guard my face, jab, jab, hook, jab. Most importantly, never stop moving. Ever.

“I’m ready,” I muttered. Kama nodded, and then he struck. Or tried to, anyway, as I was able to get out of the way of his left jab. I chuckled “Too slow, man.”

Kama looked a bit perturbed and reared back again, this time with a right. Even before he had extended, I could tell he was trying to fake me into his left. I ducked the first punch and then quickly shifted to my left, escaping yet again.

“Fuck, dude.” Kama said, already panting. Big boy clearly wasn’t in shape. He came at me again with a left, right, left, regroup. I dodged each punch, his groans giving me life as I bobbed and weaved. Right, left, right, again. He couldn’t touch me. He aimed a kick at my head and I ducked under it, backing up yet again, my feet never moving out of sync. In the corner of my eye I could see more faces coming over to our little ring, the two Fighters sparring getting some attention.

Now, Kama waited. Clearly, he was awaiting me to make a move, to punch, to do something. I was barely sweating, he already looked like he’d swam ten laps in the pool. I cheekily smiled and readied a punch with my right. I could see Kama getting ready to defend it...but then I pulled back into a feint and came over the top with my left hand. Kama’s face turned, right into my fist, which I stopped an inch short of his nose.

“Boom, baby,” I said with a smile. “If this was a real fight, you’d be done.” The shock, or something else, must have caused Kama to drop to the ground on his knees, panting, sweat pouring off of his body. 

Victory for Chanun. Fuck yeah, Chanun.

I looked around and saw faces, in white and black suits, just staring at us. Some of them had their arms folded, clearly impressed. Others were whispering to their partners, pointing at me. I even saw two of the guys from the podium earlier, standing together, giving each other sidelong looks, the one with the long blond hair smirking. Heck, even Helios and Selene were both just standing there, Helios’ mouth slightly agape, Selene’s eyes intense.

I squatted and tapped Kama on the back of his head, rubbing his shaved scalp.

“Need some help up?” He looked at me and took my hand as I lifted him as the crowd began to disperse. Now, he was grinning wildly. 

“Shit, dude, that was amazing. You gotta teach me that.” We walked over to where Rati was watching us and Helios and Selene soon ran over as well.

“Damn, Chanun,” Helios said. “That was absurd. How’d you do that?”

“I DID come top in my class at the Academy in terms of Reflexes and Evasion,” I said through a Cheshire grin, rubbing my forearm over my forehead and shaking some of the sweat out of my hair. “Guess learning how to catch waves and dodge awry volleyballs has its real life applications.”

“Well, I’m happy you’re on OUR side,” Selene said with a grin. He looked at Rati, and so did I. Yup, still quiet, although his grin was infectious. 

I yawned. “I actually think I’m going to head back and catch some Zs. But we’ll hang tomorrow.” The group agreed, we all exchanged room numbers, and I began to walk out into the hallway, toward the dorms, not realizing that I was being followed.


	5. Knowing The Nav

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter coming out a few hours early! Next one will come out either Friday night or Saturday afternoon.
> 
> I promise that there's more to this chapter than meets the eye...but Chanun gets to know one of his superiors a little bit better here.
> 
> Thanks for the kudos and comments. I'm going to try to post more on my Tumblr so you can feel free to ask me questions/leave me feedback there as well. 
> 
> Cain and Abel are coming...don't you worry. Sometimes, the foreplay makes the climax all worth it in the end.
> 
> \- SleipyNova

“Man, what a fucking first night!” I yelled to no one in particular as I exited the gym and toward my room.

“I’ll say,” came from behind me. I turned around; it was the blonde guy from earlier, with the long hair-braid. He was smiling, his teeth pristine. He carried himself with a grace that made me want to stand up a little taller.

“You’re Lead Navigator Keeler, right?” I said. He smiled and nodded.

“And you are?”

“New,” I sputtered. Shit. Keeler let a small guffaw pass his lips.

“I knew that. I saw you at the ceremony earlier. I meant, what should I call you?”

“Chanun,” I answered, secretly thankful I wouldn’t embarrass myself anymore in front of my superior officer. I extended my hand and he shook, his fingers interlocking with mine.

“I love that name,” Keeler said with a smile. 

“Heh, thanks,” I responded. “I didn’t choose it, of course, but I’ll make people remember it.”

“You should look up its etymology when you get back to your room. But anyway, I digress.”

My mind was in a bit of a haze, but I soon snapped out of it. “So how can I help you?”

“You looked pretty good tonight,” he said. “In the sparring match. The way you dodged and anticipated the other Fighter’s moves, it was extremely impressive.”

“Heh, thanks,” I said. Damn, this was more than I expected - getting complimented by a Lead on the first day! “I scored well in that particular discipline at the Academy. Must have picked up some tricks from growing up on the Islands.”

“Oh, so you’re an Islander, then?” Keeler inquired. I nodded my head.

“Great. I have a feeling that you’re going to be extremely helpful for what might be coming down the pipeline next for us. Do you mind taking a walk with me? I want to give you something.” I gulped a bit, and then regained my composure.

“Uh, sure, dude. I mean, sir. I mean…” He laughed again as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and we began to stride toward the Navigator section of the ship.

“You can call me Keeler, Chanun. Don’t worry.” I blushed a bit and looked away, hoping that he wouldn’t see it. Shit, guys didn’t normally get me feeling like this. There was just something so regal yet relaxed about Keeler. The juxtaposition caught me off guard. 

“OK then. Keeler it is.” We walked past the gym, which had seemingly cleared out a bit.

“So, why did you choose to be a Fighter?” Keeler asked me. I shrugged.

“I scored slightly better in it, and I think it’s where my value lies, to be honest. I know my strengths. I’m calm under pressure, I’m coordinated, and I’m tough. I’m not a brilliant strategist like my Navigator, Zek...Ezekiel is.” I remembered a second too late that Zeke was not ACTUALLY his code name, but since I was in the presence of his boss I could talk him up a bit. 

“And I can’t wait to meet him...now EZEKIEL I’ve heard things about, I must admit,” Keeler said as he took his arm off my shoulders, giving me a bit more freedom of movement. “Given the new rules, we don’t grant a lot of Spec Exceptions anymore. And on the Sleipnir, doubly so, since we tend to take on a lot of the more...unpredictable, exploration-oriented missions, where impaired vision could lead to dire consequences.”

“I’ve only known him for a couple of hours, but I think he’ll be good. I might need to take him to the gym a few times to get his lifting game on point, but we’ll each do our part to make the other one ready if we need to battle. That’s what a Fighter and Nav are supposed to do, right? Bring the best out of each other?” Keeler smiled and looked me in the eyes as we turned down a hallway that had a “Bridge” sign above it.

“Yup. Take it from me, the worst thing you could do to your partner is to force some chemistry that isn’t there. Find out how you relate to one another, and then make that work.” We came to the end of the hall. “By the way, welcome to the Bridge.”

My mouth was agape as I looked below me, technology and computers and technicians as far as the eye could see. It was a massive space, so active, filled with beeping and whirring and blinking. Keeler let me take it in for a moment, then grabbed my hand and directed me toward a larger station in the corner.

“So, Islander, you know how to swim?” He asked. 

“Of course, man.” I couldn’t help but smirk a bit. “We learn how to swim when we’re, like, three on the Islands. I even guarded for four years.”

“I could tell,” Keeler demurred as he looked me up and down, before grabbing a notebook from the station’s countertop. “So, we have intelligence that there might be Colteron activity on an underwater planet in the Baiten Kaitos system. They may be looking to manufacture a weapon that could be used to destroy humanity; we’re not sure what it is yet, to be quite honest, but we’re going to figure it out. And, once we get a new shipment of submersibles from the home base, which should be in about…” Keeler looked at a calendar, “a month from now, we’ll be able to go onto the planet and do some recon. However, there are some issues.”

“Let me guess,” I said with a knowing grin. “Some of the guys here can’t swim.”

Keeler nodded, “Yup. I mean, I’ll be honest. Have you ever seen Colonists try and swim? They look like dogs just barely being able to keep afloat.” He stared into space for a second and then chuckled heartily. “Sorry, I just thought of ONE particular Colonist and what his attempt would be like. Man, I’d pay to see that.”

Keeler brushed some of the hair out of his eyes and regained his composure. “But I digress. Yes, swimming lessons might be needed, and that certainly doesn’t hurt you. However, my more pressing need is that, underwater, there might be a case when the submersibles are parked and teams are going to have to explore on foot. And then, my Navigators are going to have to get out of their ships. And I want to make sure they know how to defend themselves.” 

Keeler took a book off of his desk and underhand tossed it to me. I caught it and looked at it. It was a pretty small volume that was titled How to Teach Self-Defense.

“You showed me some pretty smooth moves tonight,” Keeler said with a grin. “I want you to show them to all of my Navigators. Get them ready so that if they have to defend themselves, to dodge attacks in close quarters, they can.” I stared at him, dumbstruck.

“But this is my first…”

“I know, Chanun. You’re new. This wouldn’t happen right away. Not for a few weeks, not until you were slightly more established. But what do you say? Would you do it?”

I mean...was it even a question?

“Yeah, man. Of course...of course I’ll do it.” Keeler nodded.

“Awesome. You should read that book, it’ll do you wonders. It did for me once I rose in the ranks.” I nodded, appreciating his help. This was surreal. Less than a day in and I was already in good with one of the Leads.

“I definitely will,” I said, tossing the book to myself in the air and catching it in one hand. Keeler grinned.

“You have really good reflexes,” he surmised. He reached out an arm to mock punch me, I caught it and pulled him closer, like we were in some sort of strange tango. My arm subconsciously dipped him lower, rubbing his back. Our noses touched. 

Fuck. Not in public, not on day one. Not going to be a hypocrite after turning down the guy who threw himself at me in the Mess Hall. Not going to happen.

I pulled him back up and looked around - no one on the Bridge had noticed. I looked at Keeler, who seemed composed, although he did have some faint redness creeping onto his cheeks, the heat of the moment carrying over a little bit.

“Anyway...I should probably be going,” I said, a little disappointed but dignity remaining intact. For now, anyway. Keeler gulped and nodded, agreeing.

“At least let me walk you back to your room.” He stood up, grabbing my hand, and we left the Bridge. We didn’t exchange another word on our stroll back, but in my head I was celebrating. 

Today had been splendid, and the foundation had been laid for many good things to come.


	6. Awkwardness at Lunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6! Woo! I want to post Chapter 7 NOWWWWWWW but I can't; it would go against the schedule I've set up for myself. That'll be up on Tuesday. At least our heroes get to meet a whole bunch of the denizens of the Sleipnir this chapter.
> 
> I'm trying to get better about using my Tumblr - feel free to find me. My Tumblr name is sleipnirsupernova. It's kind of bare right now but I hope to build it out a little more over time. I still need to decide who to make my avatar; we shall see what I pick.
> 
> Thanks as always for the comments and kudos! I really appreciate it. Please leave more and share if you are so inclined!

The next few days were a blur as I began to get acclimated to my new life. Zeke was up earlier than me every morning and went to bed later than me every night - we had barely talked outside of our VR simulations. I had to admit, it impressed me how much energy Zeke brought to the table every time we tested our skills. His mind was always working, constantly coming up with new strategies and things to try, ways to get advantages on the ‘Terons. We practiced on various terrains, shooting boulders down to limit movement, fencing our enemies in. Zeke was surprisingly deft as a Navigator. He was truly the best teammate I could have asked for - I was grateful.

Meanwhile, I went to the gym as much as I could to hone my body whenever I was out of the cockpit. However, after that first night, I noticed that no one seemed to want to spar with me anymore. Whenever Kama, or Helios, or anyone else walked in, I’d wave and they would return it, but then they’d just go their separate way, leaving me to mainly work out alone. After everyone first met me, it was like the novelty was wearing off a bit for them. I didn’t care THAT much, although given that Zeke was spending almost every second he could on The Bridge with the other navigators. I still needed to get him into the gym at some point, add some muscle onto that lean body of his, but I figured that would come with time.

On my third day on the ship, I made it into the mess hall after a particularly difficult training session with Zeke. I was beginning to get the hang of things, although Zeke kept escalating the difficulty of the obstacles that we’d face. We’d started on Level 1 training and now were on Level 33. Level 40 was where Zeke said we’d actually get to fight against ‘Teron simulations.

“They’re only inanimate targets for now,” he said as he ratcheted up the difficulty once more, adjusting his glasses as he looked down at me from his elevated post. “Just placed in really difficult areas on the map, with lots of obstacles. We haven’t died yet, so let’s keep going!”  
On Level 30, we ended up dying. A lot. Well, it felt like a lot, maybe it was only eight or so times, but it was mainly due to Zeke overcomplicating some of the navigation maneuvers. I wasn’t going to correct him - I tried to stay out of conflicts whenever possible - but it definitely left me a bit disconcerted. Zeke said that he was going to read up more on techniques and grab lunch later, so I went down to rustle up some grub.

I sat down and was rubbing my head when I saw two figures cast a shadow over my table.

“Hey, you’re Chanun, right?” A young blonde Navigator smiled down at me. I nodded. 

“Cool, I’m Abel, and this is my Fighter, Cain!” The Nav gestured to the vaguely glamorous, scowling fighter standing next to him. He looked away with a bit of a holier than thou type attitude. Abel put an arm around his waist and gave him a meaningful look before looking back at me. “Mind if we sit here?”

I shrugged. “Sure, dudes. Take a load off.” Abel sat across from me while Cain took the space next to me on the bench.

“Why aren’t you eating with your Navigator?” Abel asked me, a slightly puzzled expression on his face. “Ezekiel, right?”

“He’s going to eat later, he wanted to review some of the VR runs we did today.” To be honest, I thought he was working a bit too hard, but that would be on Zeke to figure out at some point. I’m not a babysitter.

“Oh, ok.” Abel said, coming to terms with my answer. He absentmindedly scratched his chin. I could see Cain’s nostrils flaring from the corner of my eye. He clearly did not want to be here.

“You really should hang out with your Navigator more, you know,” Abel implored. “He works his ass off in sessions. Keeler keeps telling him to take breaks, and I’m not sure that he’s listening. Heck, I even think he disobeyed an order and snuck back in last night - or that’s what Ethos told me, anyway.”

“Zeke’s doing his best to catch up,” I said, not really appreciating the unsolicited advice. “I get the sense that he hasn’t been away from home a lot, he’s still adjusting to being on a ship with a bunch of strangers in the middle of an intergalactic battle. Give him time, and he’ll kill it.” I leaned back on my hands again, regarding the Navigator, giving him a look that I hoped would implore him to change the subject. 

“No problem,” Abel answered, putting his hands up. “I’m not trying to be bitchy, I’m just trying to be helpful. I just know that sometimes the way one’s Navigator acts can reflect poorly on their Fighter partner. I don’t want you to get a bad reputation or anything.”

“I don’t think the Navigator who got fucked by his Fighter his first night on base really has a lot of credence when it comes to having a good reputation,” a voice rang out from above me. The three of us looked up and saw a tall blonde with a mullet and a sideways smirk peering down at us. A slightly shorter Fighter was next to him, his hair with a heavy bang over one eye.

Cain started up. “Phobos, get the fuck out of here.” Abel turned away, his face red, clearly slightly embarrassed by that situation. The Navigator Cain addressed folded his arms.

“Don’t worry Cain, I’m leaving. I just didn’t want our new friend here getting the wrong idea of how things work.” He extended a hand to me. “I’m Phobos, doll.” 

“Chanun,” I said, accepting the handshake.

“Ooh, nice name,” Phobos said with a grin.

“Get the fuck away, Phobos,” Cain growled again. The Navigator ignored him.

“The quiet one’s name is Deimos, by the way,” Phobos said to me as he gestured to the Fighter next to him. “He’s shy. But he’s best buddies with the loose cannon on your left.” Deimos raised a single eyebrow as Cain got up and banged the table.

“You need to learn some fucking respect, Phobos, and if we weren’t in the middle of this fucking Mess Hall I’d punch you out right now.”

Phobos grinned, clearly thrilled that he was getting a rise out of the Fighter. “Ooh, big man, standing up for his boyfriend. How cute.” He ran his hand through Abel’s hair, ruffling up the short cut. That was the last straw for Cain, who stormed next to Phobos.

“OK fuckboy, here it comes.”

“Stop,” Abel said softly, putting his hand on Cain’s chest. “Just ignore him, he’s being a douche. Just...stop.” Cain clearly wanted to continue his path directly into Phobos’ face, but he relented. Phobos grinned and shrugged.

“We were just coming back from a VR Run, and I figured I’d drop the little one off for you to babysit. I have to go to the Bridge anyway.” He walked away, giving a little sarcastic handwave goodbye. Deimos sat down next to Abel and seethed. He always looked like he was seething over something.

Abel, clearly a diplomat, looked at me. “Sorry you had to see and hear that. Phobos is...well…”

“Kind of a jealous dick,” Cain finished. I spit out some of the drink in my mouth in a smile.

“Yeah, I think I’ll stay away from that. I don’t need to get involved in crazy shit, not my thing. Y’all are dating, though?”

Abel looked at Cain quickly, then back at me. “Yup. It started pretty much right when we were paired together.”

I heard a little “Tsk tsk” from across the table; Deimos was the only one who could have made the noise, but he was busy closely dissecting an orange. I looked back at Abel.

“Cool. Must be nice to have found someone special to you so quickly.”

“Yeah…” Abel sighed. Cain looked absolutely disgusted that we were having this conversation. I finished my food then made to sit up.

“Well...nice to meet all of you, and thanks for the advice. Feel free to holler if you need anything.” Cain scowled a bit, although I got the sense that was how he reacted to just about everything. Abel smiled, and I noticed the scar on the right side of his mouth for the first time.

“No worries, Chanun. We’ll definitely see you around!” I got up and walked out to hurried whispers from the table where I had been seated. It was time to do some training.


	7. Lifesaver

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOW things are getting a bit spicy.
> 
> Originally, I had split this chapter into two, but I realized that there was not really any good dividing point to make that happen. So...I guess this chapter just became really, really, REALLY action-packed instead.
> 
> Please continue to give commentary/feedback whether here or on Tumblr (sleipnirsupernova on that medium).
> 
> All characters, except my own, are property of HamletMachine.
> 
> The next chapter will come out on Friday.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> \- SleipyNova

I spent the remainder of the day at the gym, lifting weights, meditating, and sprinting on the treadmill, music blasting in my ears, the thoughts of that entire lunch room endeavor in my head. Drama was not something I did, ever. I didn’t care for it. I wasn’t going to touch the shit.

I was running so intensely that I barely noticed when the gym had emptied out, my mind somewhere completely removed. I did, out of the corner of my eye, see a familiar graceful hand slap the end of my treadmill, though.

I pulled out my earbuds and saw Keeler there, smiling. I turned off the treadmill’s power and let it slow down beneath me, my legs feeling a little bit like jelly as I adjusted to a more static surface. “Hey, Keeler. How are you?”

“Not bad, Chanun,” he said with a smile. “I noticed that you were here for a long while. I wanted to make sure that everything is OK.”

“It’s fine,” I responded. “Still just getting used to some of the political stuff on the ship, no biggie.” I was panting, having just been constantly exerting myself for the past few hours. I would be fine, my stamina was solid, but I still needed a couple of minutes to recover. I grabbed a dry towel that I had stashed over the side of the treadmill and wiped some of the sweat off my brow.

“Yeah, I overheard some of the Navigators talking about you during our training today,” Keeler said with a smile. “You’ve made quite an impression.”

I tried to give the best “surprised” look that I could muster. “Really?”

Keeler nodded. “Yup. Some of the Navs saw you during your sparring match a couple of days ago. Ethos had said that he’d gone up to you and can’t stop talking about how handsome you are. And your Navigator keeps getting exceedingly defensive whenever you come up in conversation.” Keeler shrugged. “He keeps talking about how he needs you focused on missions and not on cock, or whatever.”

“Why not both?” I inquired with a grin, trying to be jokey. In truth, though, I actually was getting a little bit horny. I hadn’t cum since I’d gotten on the Sleipnir; I was too busy all the time, plus around Zeke I constantly felt like I was walking on eggshells to not upset him. The fact that Keeler looked the way he did and was standing so closely to me after a workout wasn’t exactly doing anything to assuage my lusty thoughts.

“But, yeah,” I continued. “A Navigator and his Fighter boyfriend cornered me over lunch today about our partnership, saying that it wasn’t strong enough and that I should defend him more and be closer with him. And then some other Navigator came over and they got into a fight…”

“Let me guess,” Keeler said, a wizened expression on his face. “It was Abel, right?” I nodded.

“Abel’s experience with his Fighter is...let’s say...atypical,” Keeler intoned. I could tell from his facial expression that he was not thrilled with that particular relationship. “They just so happened to hit it off almost perfectly once he came aboard and now are fairly co-dependent. It’s happening with one or two of the new Fighter/Nav pairs as well...at least in terms of what I’m overhearing.”

“He is right about one thing, though,” Keeler continued with a serious look in his eyes. “You are more connected to Ezekiel than you’re giving yourself credit for. The point of the Fighter/Navigator system is for each person to bring out the best in one another. And even though I get the feeling you just see that as true from a warring, military perspective, it’s from a social perspective, too.”

“Really?” I instinctively rubbed the top of my scalp, the sweat having pooled into my hair. “How does that make any sense?”

“It’s natural, trust me,” Keeler said with a smile. “It will come with time. I’ve been with my partner, Encke, for a little over half a year. We started off a bit...distant from one another, a bit different in our ways and means. Then, we got a little too close. Now, we’ve re-oriented our relationship, it’s stable, and our way of handling the situation was noted on both of our reports. Fighter/Navigator synchronycity is key if you want to move up in the ranks. We don’t promote singles, only pairs.”

“So I gotta figure out that balance with Zeke. Got it.” I folded my arms and looked at Keeler with a cocked head. “So, what sort of stuff has Encke taught you?”

“Socially? He helped me be a bit more assertive with what I wanted, take more chances, know how to balance my responsibilities and obligations with...erm...recreation.” Keeler chuckled a little inwardly as I could only imagine what he was thinking. “Physically? He taught me to step outside my comfort zone. Which is why I originally came here, incidentally. I want to spar with you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You sure?”

He nodded. “Yup. And since I’m Chief Navigator, I can clear the room so no one else will watch.” He looked around and, seeing that the gym was completely empty, pressed a button on the wrist of his uniform that closed the door. I heard a tinny lock sound.

He looks back at me. “That is, if you feel up to it. If not, that’s totally fine. I want you to show me your moves, though.” He brushed his braid again. I wasn’t sure if that tic was indicative of nerves or just a force of habit. I certainly wasn’t going to say no, though.

“Sure, Keeler,” I said, jumping up and down a little bit to get some of the springiness back in my legs. I had a nice break, so I felt pretty good to fight. “Let’s do this.”

“OK,”he said with a nod as we went over to the ring in the corner of the room. We jumped in and Keeler immediately took a fighting stance, up on his toes, fists near his face in a ready position.

“Ah, so you have done this before,” I murmured aloud as I prepared. 

“Yeah, Encke may have taught me a few things.” He threw a couple of punches against air and then turned to face me again. “Plus, being a Lead, I have to know how to handle myself in any situation.”

“Cool,” I responded. “So how can you handle this?” I shot a left and Keeler dodged...right into my right. I stopped my fist just short of his ear. “Pow, you’d be done,” I said softly.

“Not necessarily,” Keeler responded. He grabbed my forearm and then, with surprising strength, lifted me up, flipping me over his shoulder onto my chest. Damn, he’d gotten me.

“Nice one,” I said, bouncing up, finding my stance again. “So you do know a little bit.”

“You wouldn’t want to meet me in a dark alley,” Keeler joked as he led with his jab again. I dodged, jumping out of the way, this time ducking and rolling, leaning into the turn and then roundhouse kicking, stopping my foot just short of his face.

“I got some other tricks up my sleeve, don’t worry,” I said mischeveously. We continued to dive and dodge at each other, mostly countering everything the other one would throw. Keeler was tougher than he seemed, and his reach on punches made him dangerous, but I was able to use his length to my advantage, escaping under his limbs on multiple occasions. It was pretty crazy; me, in this scrimmage with the Chief Nav, and holding my own. 

After twenty minutes of mirroring and shuffling, I was able to take Keeler down. I took my foot down, planted, and then came in for a hug, using my leverage to trip him and tackle him to the ground. He countered, maneuvering his body under mine and trying to use his core strength to flip me over. I twisted in mid-air and managed to face him, putting my hands on his back and holding him down, then bouncing back up.

“You’ve gotta anticipate my actions and roll with your movements,” I said. “Your reaction time is solid, but think about it this way.” I did a similar combo to before, ducking a punch and getting into his body, giving him a hug and pushing him toward a corner of the ring. “Escape this hold, now.” Keeler gulped, then pivoted, trying to wriggle out of my grasp. He pushed back, attempting to resist my movement forward, but I had leverage and continuing to force him backwards, eventually pinning him against the corner.

I couldn’t resist; I touched noses with him and gave a cheeky grin as his face was contorted in frustration. Then I backed up, releasing him. “You tried to force your way out instead of rolling with the natural movement of your body, You were fighting not only against my strength, but against momentum as well. You might be stronger than me, man, but gravity’s a bit of a tougher opponent.

I stepped back into the middle of the ring, still facing him. “Now, try it on me, Keeler. Try to force me into a corner, and see how I react.”

I beckoned him forward and let him put his hands on my chest. I could see the grit and determination on his face as he was trying to push me back. The stress was showing all over his body, his muscles tensed. I let him into my chest, my arms extended on his shoulders. He pushed, moving me slightly. I waited a split second, and then made my move, shifting my left shoulder away from his grip, ducking under him, and then popping back up.

“That’s the key,” I said, panting a little bit as I put my hands on my knees. “You have to let your momentum carry you where you need to go. Or else you’ll just end up…” I was about to go on when I noticed that Keeler was still bending over, his breaths labored. He staggered over to the side of the ring and leaned on the ropes for support.

“Hey, are you OK?” 

Keeler nodded, his face extremely pale. I could tell that something was wrong, even if he wouldn’t admit it.

“Unlock the door, we have to get you to the med bay.”

He shook his head, gasping. “No...not the med bay. I can...uggggh…” He put a hand on his chest, trying to grab deep breaths and failing. I picked up the ropes and allowed for him to go under them as we walked toward the door, my arm around his shoulders for support.

“You need help, come on!” I noticed that Keeler’s remote door controller was on the sleeve that was clinging desperately to my neck. I pressed a button and the door opened up.

“Room...16…” Keeler sputtered, his breathing getting a little bit weaker. We moved down the hallway but it was almost like I was dragging him. His breaths were still shallow and frantic, like a fish flopping on a dock after being caught.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t go to the Med Bay?” I asked again. “This seems serious…”

“I ORDER...Room 16,” Keeler rasped as he pointed down a long hallway. We moved as fast as we could, each step laborious. Luckily, Keeler’s room was a bit closer than most of the others, but it was still proving to be a trek given the Navigator’s rapidly worsening physical condition. There was only one thing to do.

“Sorry, Keeler,” I said as I squatted down and lifted up his legs, cradling him in my arms. “Gotta move quicker than that.” Keeler gave no sign of approval or disapproval other than another soft, breathy moan.

I jogged down the hallway. Despite Keeler’s height, he was fairly thin, so I could bear his weight effectively. In a matter of a minute and a half, I had made it to Room 16 and opened the door.

“P...pills…” Keeler coughed, pointing to a container on his bed. “Need 2.” I lay Keeler down on his bed and, with shaky hands, opened the pills. There was a bottle of water there too - I handed the Navigator both and watched. Keeler was able to get the pills to his mouth and drank. He put his hand on his heart and breathed deep once, twice, three times. His normally pristine blonde hair was sweatily matted on his forehead. He looked at me, his breaths now a bit more regular.

“I’m...so sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to scare you like that. I went too hard in the ring.”

I sort of could just gawk at him, my body trembling slightly. I had to take a deep breath myself to relax a little bit. “You nearly fucking died. You don’t have to apologize. I just need to know that you’re OK.”

He looked at me with a dreamy stare. “I am OK...now that you’re here.” He put his left hand on my right pec and smiled, a sultry gleam in his eye. I could feel my body heat up to his touch, all of my muscles that had been so sore the entire day, worked to the bone by my own obstinance, melted. I leaned in on the bed as he touched my chest, rubbing softly.

“I...I looked up my task name, like you told me,” I hummed out, scooting a bit closer, my entire body now on Keeler’s bed.

“Oh?” Keeler inquired with a smile, his hand slowly migrating from my chest to my shoulder and then around the back of my neck.

“Yeah...it’s a Hebrew name of a bygone king,” I stammered, feeling his hand worm its way up my body, the emotions of the night causing my heart to beat a million times a minute. “It means...grace.”

Keeler nodded, his hand on my back gently guiding me closer and closer to him. “A worthy name for someone so...gracious.” He brought his forehead to mine and they touched, sparks running down my back.

I couldn’t resist anymore. I brought my own arm around the small of Keeler’s back and kissed him, deep, his gentle tongue intermingling with my powerful yet measured one. We lay on our sides, rubbing each other’s tight bodies, clad in rubber, the latex only adding to our mutual arousal, the smell of spicy, musky sweat from our bodies in the air.

Keeler pulled back with a grin, his fingers rubbing at the side of my neck. “I’ve wanted to do that the fucking second I saw you on my ship.”

“Heh,” I chuckled. “Me too, I guess. I just didn’t want to get a reputation.”

“We can be discreet,” Keeler said as he got up on his knees, exposing the back of his suit to me. I zipped it down, seeing his brilliant, bright back, his strong shoulders, his tiny waist. A bounty was truly before me. “Encke isn’t here tonight, though, so I have the room to myself. Hence, you’re here.”

“Was almost having a heart attack part of the plan?” I whispered as I came up from behind him, running my fingers over his milky white skin, caressing his sharp hipbones, draping his long braid over my shoulder to give me easier access to his supple neck.

“No, but if anything it just proved that my taste in guys is better than even I thought it was.” He turned around and planted another soft kiss on my mouth, then a slightly deeper one, until we were fighting for dominance yet again. I pulled his uniform’s top off, exposing his toned, lithe chest, pale and fair except for one red line, right next to his left pec.

I reached behind my back and unzipped my own suit, my choker popping out and my large pectorals enjoying the sweet release from their black prison. Keeler licked his lips as I revealed my upper body.

“Damn, Islander.” He sat up and puts his arms around my waist, running his cheek over one of my pecs, giving my collarbone a soft kiss, playing with my choker. “You’re hot as hell.”

“Thanks,” I said with a grin, stretching my arms, showing off for Keeler’s pleasure. We kissed some more, his deft fingers exploring every inch of my mocha skin, my biceps, my lats, my abs. I could hear him moaning into my mouth as he felt up my muscles and I navigated the peaks and valleys of his taut, fit body. Eventually, my hands found their way down south, rubbing over his bulge. 

“Ah...fuck,” he cried as I kept running my fingers over that one spot. I pushed him over and began to pull the fabric of his flightsuit down his long, toned legs, his surprisingly thick, mostly hard dick popping out almost instantly, peeking over the edge of his tight, red briefs.

“Oh god, Keeler,” I muttered as I ran my hands over his perfectly molded balls, pulsing in its fabric prison. I could hear him panting as he lay back in front of me, his abs flexing. I clambered forward, my sweaty suit rubbing over his smooth legs, and kissed him once more, grinding against his butt as I went deeper and deeper into his mouth. I broke it and smiled at him, hornily sighing. “Help me out of my pants, please?”

“Of course,” he said mischeveously. I leaned back on my arms as Keeler exposed my thick, seven inch cock, bulging in my briefs. My thick thighs and strong calves were next, and finally my feet were free. Keeler threw my sweaty jumpsuit aside and took a look at my full, prone body, admiring his prize.

“Shiiiiit…” He couldn’t help but smile as he looked at me. I beckoned him and he came back over, sitting in my lap, letting me stroke his sharp hipbones and body as he sat on my crotch, his butt rubbing against my length, creating friction and heat, both of us groaning as we got more acquainted with each other’s bodies.

“Unnnggghhh…” Keeler writhed in my grasp. I could feel his heart beating faster and faster; I didn’t want to exert him too much. I laid him down and took a deep whiff of his cock, pulling off his underwear and giving it a taste. It was so delicate despite its length. It tasted clean, it smelled sweet, its bobbing head wriggling within my tongue’s grasp. My hand found its way to Keeler’s perineum, rubbing it softly and gently, then graduating to more pinching and massaging, finding the special spot that was known to drive men wild.

“Awwww...fuckkkkkk….” Keeler moaned above me, his handsome, angular face wrapped in bliss. “Chanuuuuuuuuuuuuuun,” he groaned as he bucked above me, my hands cupping his full, hairless sack, massaging his testicles back and forth. I took my mouth off of his cock and went to his backside, kissing the nape of his ass.

“Lube...top drawer…” Keeler moaned. I kept one finger on his puckered hole, tickling it, as I used my other long arm to open the drawer and grab the lubricant. I came over Keeler, grinding on his hole, purring in his ear.

“You ready for me, dude?” I growled, licking and biting at his lobe and neck, my thick arms enveloping the other male’s slender, fit body.

“Unghhhhhh…” was all the Navigator said, and it was the cue I needed to lube up and enter.

I squeezed out a little bit of the cold jelly and rubbed it on the nav’s hole, first one finger, then two, Keeler’s moans giving me all the guidance that I needed. Then, nice and hard, I made sure my own cock was slippery. 

“Here I come,” I mumbled, entering Keeler’s hot hole as he was on his hands and knees. “Ah fucccccckkkkkkkk…” we both moaned in unison.

I began to thrust in and out, long dicking the Navigator, lubing up my own hand at the first time and doing the gentlemanly thing by giving him a reacharound in time with my fucking. I leaned over Keeler as I began to fuck him harder, driving into his prostate as my mouth massaged his neck and cheek and collarbones, tasting him, his braid over my shoulder as I went deeper and faster.

“Unghhhhh…” Keeler’s moans drove me crazy as I kept fucking him more and more, jerking him off quickly, working his cock with deft, strong fingers. Keeler’s moans gave me more energy as I blasted and churned and worked him over with every part of my body.

I flipped Keeler over on my cock as I pistoned into him, letting him lie on his back. I saw his blue eyes glistening, his mouth open as if in awe and pleasure. I kept jerking and fucking.

“I want to see you cum, Keeler,” I moaned. “Cum for me, dude.” Keeler’s restraint was broken, the night’s events had set him up perfectly.

“Ahhhh...fuck….Chanun….I’m…..” I could feel his ass tightening around my thick dick as he exploded, pearls of cum cascading on his tummy, finding new homes in the valleys where his abs lay. His face was a mask of pleasure. 

“Where do you want me to cum?” I asked hurriedly.

“Face! Face!” Keeler responded frantically. I pulled out and jerked as Keeler rubbed my thick thighs. And then, I exploded; shot after shot of thick, luscious, pent-up cum, right on Keeler’s mouth and chin. Six, seven, eight, nine shots. And then, it was done.

I breathed, in and out, still not totally believing what had just happened. I heard a rustle from next to me and saw Keeler going to grab a towel; he was quite messy after all. He wiped off his face, then the traces of cum from his chest. I was awaiting him under the covers when he return.

“Damn,” he muttered. “You’re incredible.” He gave me a kiss on the cheek.

“Hehe,” I responded, blushing, nuzzling his neck. “Thanks.”

“We should be quiet about this, of course.” Keeler smiled at me, leaving another kiss on my cheek. “I really shouldn’t be sleeping with anyone under me in rank. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t do it on occasion. And that doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re incredible.”

“I’d like that,” I whispered. “I like you, and I like everything about what we just did together.”

“Same,” Keeler said, cuddling closer. “I feel lucky to have met you, Chanun. But it’s been a long day. We should sleep. We’ll talk in the morning.”

Keeler turned off the lights and we lay together, his taller body covering my smaller one, our hands interlocked. For the first time since I had come on the Sleipnir, I felt truly at ease. I passed out within minutes.


	8. The Morning After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters belong to HamletMachine except for those that don't (Chanun, Zeke, and the other two that aren't in this chapter).
> 
> This is getting fun :). Please continue commenting and sharing and whatnot. And feel free to find me on Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/sleipnirsupernova. I'm trying to get more active on it.
> 
> Enjoy the angst and showering!

I woke up to an alarm at 7 in the morning, the ship’s artificial lighting beginning to ramp up and fill the room with a lighting vaguely similar to that of a natural dawn. I immediately turned to left and saw Keeler sleeping there, his breaths soft, tickling my face.. The escapades from the night before ran through my head, the beautiful Navigator’s moans and buckings giving me life. I turned to face him and hugged him close, turning our old spooning situation into a mutual hug, rubbing noses as our legs intertwined. His eyes fluttered opened as he smiled.

“Morning, sunshine,” I hummed, planting a kiss on his lips. 

“Morning.” He inhaled deeply, then exhaled, warm breath caressing my skin.

“I...don’t want to leave,” I said, even though intuitively I knew that it would have to happen. “You just have everything.”

“I know…” Keeler said, his eyes big and slightly watery, although his voice remained unwavering. “But we can’t. If they found out, we’d both get in deep trouble. Court martialed or worse. We have a war to win, that’s more important, right?” I nodded and kissed Keeler’s shoulder blade as he stood up and continued. “Plus, Encke’s not dating me anymore, but he’s still a bit...protective at times. I probably shouldn’t be sleeping with too many people with him around.”

“But…”I began as I got up, Keeler throwing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt over his ripped body, my eyes drawn to every curve and ripple. “You’re...special. You’re smart, and hot, and you’re not totally self-centered. I don't want anyone else.” I came up behind him, still nude, and kissed the back of his neck. He moaned a bit as I groaned into his ear. “Like...seriously. This is a fucking movie. It’s meant to be.”

“Chanun...you’re younger than me,” he let out, despite my ministrations, turning away from me and keeping his distance at an arm’s length. “I was once like you. I will always be here for you; our bond is solidified now. You have my trust at a level that almost no one on this ship has. But I won’t keep you from exploring new opportunities and finding your way, perhaps down a path you haven’t seen yet. You’ve been here three days. You have many more to go. Enjoy them.”

He threw me my suit. “Now, after all the stress that you were under yesterday, I’m giving you an executive order to rest today. Meet your Navigator at the gym at 2100 hours tonight; I’ll tell him during our briefing today to expect you. And, of course, I’ll be discreet.” He leaned forward and kissed my nose. “We will do this again, do not worry. And if you ever need to talk to me, you know how to reach me.”

I was a little hurt, a little angry. How could this guy, this beautiful, beautiful person, just disregard the time we had together? Why did he care more about appearances than his feelings. He was treating me like a disposable piece, something he could cast aside and then pick up whenever he wanted.

I held my tongue, though. I didn’t want to cause trouble, especially with the Lead Navigator.

“Yes, sir,” I sighed. He kissed me once more.

“Now, go, Chanun. And thank you...for everything.” He let me out the door and I wandered back down the hall to my room, feeling slightly annoyed yet totally spent and satisfied in a physical sense. Everything happened for a reason - maybe this was just one of those things I’d have to get used to on the Sleipnir. 

I opened my door and saw Zeke standing there, his thin body bathed in pale light. He turned to face me, crossing his lean arms over the vertical dusting of hair on his chest. He looked annoyed.

“Fun night?” he asked me, an edge in his voice. I put my hands up in surrender. 

“I’m not fucking dealing with his now, Zeke. I’m taking a day off.” I flopped on my mattress, the night’s exhaustion catching up with me, but he wasn’t done.

“I need you at your best, Chanun, not chasing tail all over this fucking ship.” I kept lying there, just ignoring him. I could feel his eyes on the back of my neck.

“What would have happened if there was a red alert last night? We can’t even make it past level 33 on the freaking simulators. We could die.”

“We’re not going to die, Zeke. Go do whatever, we’ll talk later.” I curled up under my covers, making it clear that I wanted to rest. I could hear an angry sigh and the door slamming behind me. Then, I passed out again, all of my sore muscles limp.

I woke up at around 3 and yawned, getting out of bed, my thighs still feeling like jelly. I regarded my body in the mirror. I definitely could see what made guys like Keeler go wild when they saw me. The hair pushed back, the toned chest, the long, thick legs. But I’d thought I’d proven to be more than just a pretty face and a nice cock to Keeler. Hell, I’d saved his freaking life! Why was he just casting me aside?

I shook my head and decided to take a quick shower. Maybe that would clear my mind a bit.

“Yo, Chanun?” I heard a voice behind me as I walked into the bathroom. It was Helios, waving and smiling giddily. He was also clad in just a towel; it seemed as if he had to clean off as well. I put on a small grin and dapped him up.

“Sup, Helios? How are you?”

“I’m cool, man. Just got done with training, so I’m going to clean up. Want to do another session tonight?”

“I’m actually going to the gym with Zeke tonight. Gotta tough him up a bit.”

Helios looked at me, a devlish glint in his eye. “Zeke at the gym? Oh, I gotta see this for myself.” 

I immediately shook my head, remembering what Zeke had told me earlier, cutting Helios off at the pass as I opened the bathroom door. “I think Zeke would prefer some privacy. Maybe once we get a nice routine going and figure out what he’s best at, we could all train together. For now though, he’s gonna start slow.”

“Suit yourself,” Helios said as we entered the shower room. Of the three stalls, the middle one seemed occupied; I went to the one on the far right and turned on the water. I was mostly minding my own business when, in the stall next to me, I could hear some giggling and squelching.

“Ooh...so you got the SPECIAL body wash that smells like cinnamon.” Was that Selene?

“Yup, and I’m going to rub it all over you and make you feel so fucking good.” That was DEFINITELY Helios. I recalled what Keeler had said about certain Fighter/Navigator pairs already getting to know each other a bit more than was professionally acceptable. Clearly, Helios and Selene were one of those duos.

“Oh...fuck...loosen me up,” I heard warbling from next to me. Selene was really getting into it! I couldn’t help but drop one of my hands to my cock, rubbing it sensually, the moans from the Navigator quite a turn on.

“God, your cock is so hard,” Helios muttered as the cascade of water continued to come down. I could hear Selene moaning louder, his smooth voice fluctuating in pitch and tone as his body was pleasured.

“Ahhhh...fuck me, please.” I could hear a squelch and then a thump, thump, thump, moans still permeating my wall as I soaped off, one hand over my body, the other pulling at my cock. The subversion of the whole thing strangely made it more enticing for me, more erotic. As Helios rode his Navigator hard, the moans growing louder and louder, an intense loneliness, one that I had kept bottled up inside for a long time, came back to the top of my mind. To love or be loved like so many of these warriors seemed to have on lock, to see pairs like Cain and Abel or like, potentially, Helios and Selene on the same wavelength, to imagine them together, intertwined in sexual bliss and metaphysical congruity...why couldn’t I have that? Was I forever the pleasant entity, never the leading man? Was I doomed to a sidekick role for the rest of my time here?

“Cumming!” I could hear Helios moan as the grunting intensified in the stall next to mine. I stroked and thrusted in time with their fucking and, as I heard Selene man once more, I shot my load into the shower’s drain and leaned on the side. I stopped the water on my end, just standing there now. I was clean enough.

“That was nice,” I could hear Selene murmur to Helios as they pulled open their curtain and got out.

“Definitely,” Helios said, a slightly sneaky tone in his voice. “You’re so freaking special, you know?”

“Keep the compliments coming, Helios,” Selene said with a little giggle. I heard the door close and their discussion echoed out in the hallway. I stayed in the shower for a few more minutes, just wanting to cool down and give them some time to move away from the bathroom before I would emerge. I wondered if I had been on Helios’ mind while he had sex with Selene. He knew I was there; he could have said SOMETHING.

I sighed and left the bathroom, making it back to my room unscathed. After toweling off, I threw on a black ribbed tanktop and shorts; it was time to eat.


	9. Praxic Wisdom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PRAXIS TIME!!!!!!!! 
> 
> All characters except for mine belong to HamletMachine.
> 
> Thanks for all the comments, kudos, and whatnot. The support makes me more motivated to write - and I really appreciate all of it!
> 
> \- SleipyNova

I sat in the cafeteria alone for the second consecutive day, just thinking about everything. Keeler, Helios, Selene, Cain, Abel…they all ran through my mind, everyone knowing exactly what to do, what to say, when and who to fuck. Then, there was me. I still had no idea where I was going. Hopefully, I’d figure it out soon. I’d just have to stay positive.

“Excuse me,” a voice above me said. I looked up and saw someone I hadn’t spoken too before - a tall, strapping Fighter with a patch over his right eye.

I raised an eyebrow and put on my customary smile. “What’s up? I’m Chanun, by the way.”

“I know,” he said, sitting down across from me - I hadn’t invited him to do so but he made himself at home. “I’m Praxis. Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise, man,” I responded. “Sorry about the casual wear, got an Executive Order to take the day off because I went too hard in the gym yesterday.”

“No problem,” Praxis responded with a shrug. He seemed like a pretty serious guy, although I had heard some murmurs about him being a bit of a basketcase.

“So, what brings you over my way?” I asked Praxis as he began to dig into his food. He stopped a second, then gave me a folder with some docs inside.

“Mission brief. We have a scouting run in two days. Navs think they found some ‘Teron technology on a planet not far from here.”

“Great,” I responded. I’d have to look at the information today. Luckily, I had some time to kill before I had to meet Zeke at the gym later.

“Yeah, Keeler’s been working the Navs hard all day today. I think they only got like 20 minutes for lunch. They have a lot of intel to consolidate.” I let the Keeler comment just brush over me. He was one person who I did NOT feel like thinking about right now.

I got back to my eating as Praxis looked me over with his good eye.

“You’re interesting,” he mused.

“Huh?” I wasn’t expecting to be psychoanalyzed over lunch.

“Most of the Fighters on this ship constantly act like they have something to prove. You’re the most talented fighter I’ve seen, and yet it doesn’t seem like you give a shit. I’m just trying to figure out why.”

“I give a shit,” I demurred. “I just don’t like getting caught up in too much competition.”

“I saw you spar against the new guy, Kama,” Praxis responded, looking at me with interest, yet there was still a vagueness and distance in his stare. “It was impressive. You could probably beat anyone here in a fight.”

“That’s...a nice compliment, but I wouldn’t say that, man,” I said sheepishly, scratching my back awkwardly. It was weird to hear all of this coming so straightforwardly.

“I’m truthful, if nothing else,” Praxis answered seriously.

“So what’s with the sudden interest in me?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. Praxis shrugged.

“Nothing. You just have the least killer instinct of any Fighter I’ve ever seen.” Praxis’ blunt words should have been cutting, but to be honest I found them kind of refreshing, even though the connotation wasn’t exactly positive. I took it in stride.

“I appreciate the honesty, man.” I forthrightly answered. “Maybe it’s something I need to work on.”

“I was the same way when I got on this ship,” Praxis said, his lips curling up into a sneer. “But when you lose a Navigator…it changes your perspective on things.”

I looked away from Praxis when he gave me that particular piece of information. “I’m sorry, man. I didn’t know.”

“Yup,” he said with resignation and he continued eating. “It was a few months ago. He was shot out of the sky. The Reliant saved me.”

“Reliant?” I still didn’t know the names of all the ships.

“Cain and Abel. Abel came to rescue me. He saved my life.” Praxis bared his teeth a bit. “I still can’t believe how whipped he is by that...motherfucker.”

“Cain?” I inquired. Praxis nodded. “He seems like a hothead, although he and Abel seem to have an absurdly strong bond.”

A fist came down on the table; Praxis looked pissed. “If calling your partner a slut is a strong bond, if giving your partner a scar is a strong bond, well then...they have it. Where I’m from, that’s fucking abuse.”

“I mean, that’s their shit,” I said with a shrug. “Maybe it started out bad, but something’s clearly working for them. Abel doesn’t seem like the type to get bullied easily.”

“You don’t know Cain,” Praxis seethed. “He’s a conniving sociopath, a rapist, and most definitely a bully. No one here fucks with him.” He gestured at me. “You probably could take him if you wanted to, though.”

I put my hands up. “Hell, no. Not looking to get on anyone’s bad side, especially since I’ve only been here for like three days.”

“Just think about it, OK?” Praxis said, a strange smile curling on his face. “You have an ally in me.” I sighed and looked down at my plate. All of a sudden, I wasn’t feeling too hungry. 

“See you later, man. Thanks for bringing me the briefing.” I got up and walked away, in perhaps a slightly ego-boosted mood, but ready for some alone time before my workout session with Zeke.

++++++++++++++++++++

“Hey dude,” I said as I waved Zeke over that evening. I’d taken some time to look over the notes Praxis had given me. The mission seemed like it would be pretty standard and shouldn’t take more than a day. Ezekiel and I would be more than ready for it given our previous training.

“Hey,” Ezekiel said, looking at me thoughtfully. He was dressed in shorts and a ratty T-shirt instead of his uniform.

“Nice look, man,” I said with a small grin, trying to be genial.

“I want to apologize,” Ezekiel began, his arms crossed. I could see some exhaustion in his eyes. He must have been up all night; maybe he was even staying up so late to wait for me. That made me feel slightly worse about my escapade with his boss.

“You don’t have to, man.”

“No, no, I do,” Zeke insisted. “For a couple of reasons.” I let him continue.

“First of all, I’m sorry about this morning. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. Keeler told me what happened today.” 

My heart caught in my throat. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. He told me how you accidentally bumped your head while at the gym last night and spent all evening in the Med Bay before they finally let you out.”

Oh. OK then. He had lied about me.

“But also…Keeler made me think today. He told me that part of how we’re evaluated moving forward is our ability to mature, not just on missions, but interpersonally as well. So, I’m sorry for even casting aspersions that, if you want to…you know, have sex with people, that this was somehow wrong or shameful in any way.”

Man, that Keeler was persuasive. Still, I was slightly relieved that Zeke was coming around a bit to the more carnal aspects of the Sleipnir.

“No problem, man. Apology accepted. And if you need any tips on game, I’m always here to help. We’re supposed to support each other in all aspects, and I want to be the best Fighter you could possibly imagine.”

Zeke smiled, blushing a bit. “Well, to start…can you help me get a little bit bigger? I’ll never be as big as you are, but Keeler said that the Navigators have to get stronger, and he might even force us go to the gym for an hour per day.”

I patted Zeke on the shoulder, feeling his bony blades. “Sure, man. My secret is super simple, and it’s something that you could even do in our room if you’d want. Now, get into pushup position.”

Zeke got on all fours as I squatted next to him.

“Now, can you do a pushup?”

“Sure.” Zeke’s arms wobbled a little bit, but he moved down and up in a satisfactory manner. “One.”

“Great,” I said. “Now, do 100 pushups a day. Two sets of 50. One in the morning, one at night. Boom, workout plan almost fully complete.”

Zeke turned over and looked at me. “Really? That easy?”

“Ha, yeah,” I answered with a grin. “I was once a little scrawnier, but I just started doing the pushup challenge and it provided the base I needed to get more confidence. Plus, you don’t need to get much thicker, just a little stronger. That’ll be a perfect start for you. Otherwise, just try to go to the gym and lift like once or twice a week, but I think you’ll be bigger in no time.”

“Thanks, Chanun,” Zeke said, rubbing his eyes a little bit. “I appreciate the help.”

“No prob, man,” I shrugged as we walked out of the gym together, relieved that we had reached some sort of reconciliation. Slowly but surely, Zeke was coming out of his shell, and I would be there to ensure that he emerged a better, stronger, and more confident man. “I can help you with the physical stuff, you’ll kill the navigation, and we’ll be unstoppable. And now we even have a squad name, right.”

“Yup,” Zeke responded. “We’re Zealot. And we’re gonna kick some butt.”


	10. Self-Reliant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're going into space and we're about to blow up some stuff!!!!!
> 
> 10 chapters in and I'm humbled by the support. Please keep sharing and commenting and kudoing, I really appreciate it. It makes me keep writing and I definitely have some cool (and hot) things planned for this story!
> 
> All characters, except for mine, are owned by HamletMachine.

“All eyes ahead,” Zeke muttered as we made our rounds. I looked ahead, determinedly, all of my focus on the mission at hand. This was it; my first chance to prove myself as a Fighter against the Colteron menace. Even if nothing happened, I certainly was going to remain vigilant. Nothing would get past me.

“Chanun, can you clear out that asteroid ahead?” Zeke asked. “It’s blocking my view.”

“Sure thing,” I said, aiming my blaster and eliminating the rock. Our job was to maintain a perimeter while Reliant, Edifice, and Pharaon went onto the planet where the supposed technology was found. We had been circling for about an hour, and still barely any word from those on the ground except for random check-ins.

*crackle* “We can’t seem to find the tech.” *crackle* That sounded like Selene.

“Keep looking,” said Encke from base. He had finally returned from his administrative job. His work was much different than Keeler’s. While Keeler was extremely hands-on with his Navigators, Encke preferred to take a step back and let the Fighters sort out their own problems. He was a combat strategist, first and foremost; it was his idea to have a slightly heavier than originally intended force on the ground for this mission, as he was wary of a potential ambush.

“Seems pretty quiet,” I muttered aloud. “We flew like two hours from base, who inhabits this sector?”

“No one really,” Ezekiel responded, still staring out into space as we circled. “Just some…” His eyes opened wide. “Look left,” he pointed. I followed his finger. Way in the distance, outside of our vessel’s jurisdiction, there was a small, white glimmer.

“We should tell the team over there to check into that,” I noted. Zeke turned on his radio. 

“Equinox, come in. You might have a bogey on your right, over.” A second later, we heard a response from the ship’s Navigator, Phobos.

“Zealot, good eyes. Doesn’t see us as of yet, we will note, over.” We waited in silence.

“Man, those specs give you fucking superpowers, huh?” I asked Zeke.

“Gotta be good for something, I guess,” he answered, not really paying attention, his entire focus on the task at hand. Our eyes were both fixated to where we had seen the ship previously. We waited, with baited breath, in silence for what felt like hours, with only the occasional vapid “no comment” type response from those on the ground of the arid planet below. Then, all of a sudden…

“Equinox reporting. Bogey flew to aquaeous planet, we caught the ship from a closer angle. Looks like a Teron ship for sure.”

“Get out of there, Equinox,” Keeler commanded. “We don’t know if they…”

All of a sudden, a siren flared from within our ship. One of the other vessels had hit the panic button; we were all to report back to base immediately.

“This is the Reliant. We got ambushed…on the ground,” Abel sputtered through the radio. “We’re fine, heading back though. We’ll beat them out of the atmosphere. Will report at base.”

“Fall out, men,” Encke said. Zeke turned us around and we began to go back to base.

“Well, that wasn’t too eventful,” I mused as we began to head back. For a little bit, we traveled, consolidating, coming back together. We were just about to land when, all of a sudden, I saw a flash of light out of the corner of my eye.

“What the…” Aw fuck, the siren was blaring again.

“Equinox taking fire! Taking fire! ‘Terons feinted a ship to scout, now they have 2 on our 1!” Oh no, this was not good.

“Zealot is close, moving in for support,” Ezekiel boomed. I took a deep breath and composed myself. We were going in.

“Edifice is here too, can support,” I heard crackle. I looked at my radar and saw another ship coming into the picture. It looked like the Equinox was taking fire from a couple of slightly smaller ships. As long as we just scared them away, they probably would fall back.

“Chanun, shoot a warning shot,” Zeke commanded. I hit my trigger, aiming well above the Colteron ships that were pursuing the Equinox. It was almost back to us, if it could just move a little quicker…

And then, we saw the red pinpricks from the other ship…and the smoke begin to pour from the Equinox.

“Equinox’s taken damage,” Zeke yelled over the radio. “Reliant, you copy?”

“Copy,” Abel said over his feed.

“Zealot can take the bogey on the left and support Equinox back into the Sleipnir, copy?”

“Copy.”

Zeke brought us left and gave us a vantage to take the shot. “Go, Chanun. Shoot!” I pressed the trigger twice, aiming true. It hit the ship in the distance. I saw smoke go up.

“Fuck!” The ship shot at us. Zeke expertly dove the ship under the beams. I saw something glowing under the enemy ship, almost like it was a frog with a protruding belly.

“Zeke, I’m shooting!” I yelled. I pointed the guns to the underbelly of the Colteron vessel. Two shots, tried and true. I saw a flash, then white light pour out of the ships.

“It’s turning!” Zeke shouted. “Finish it!” I shot again, twice more, adrenaline coursing through my fingertips as I focused on my target. I inhaled, then exhaled. In. Out. 

Boom. The ship burst into flame and fell from the sky, zooming like a comet toward the depths of space.

“Equinox, you OK?” Zeke asked.  
“Affirmative, Zealot. Took some shots but we can make it back, we should be fine if we…”

All of a sudden, my radar started blinking. “Zeke, what’s the Reliant status? Radar is acting up.” Zeke quickly scrolled over on his end.

“They’re face up, can’t get an angle. Reliant, do you copy?”

“Move in, Zeke, we need to help them,” I said determinedly. “Get under the fucking ship.”

“Base, Zealot is moving in, we can take out this ship.” Zeke called in our thoughts to base and then positioned himself directly under the Colteron ship. I prepared my gun and targeted the spot. Just a little closer…

“Reliant calling in,” we heard Abel chirp. “We can take this ship, no need for reinforcements. Stay back, Zealot.”

“Reliant, are you crazy?” Zeke pretty much yelled into his speaker. “You have no chance, no angle. We’re supporting. Get ready, Chanun.”

Zeke moved us into the right angle to have a shot at the underbelly of the ‘Teron ship. I fit it right between my crosshairs, the ship not even noticing us, entirely concentrating on the Reliant in front of it. I took a deep breath, ready to take my shots.

But then…all of a sudden…

“Reliant, stop rushing the ship!” Keeler yelled from HQ. No answer.

“Reliant! Copy! Come in!” Zeke heard nothing. I steeled myself. It was now or never. Reliant was motoring quickly. I had to make every shot count or else the ships would collide. Even worse, I could potentially shoot my own allies out of the sky. Despite the chaos, I remembered what Astor had taught me. I stayed calm.

“Zeke! I’m firing!” 

PEWWWWWWW!

PEWWWWWWW!

PEWWWWWWW!

PEWWWWWWW!

“Enemy ship down, enemy ship down!” Zeke yelled triumphantly. “Zealot coming back, Reliant, are you good?”

There was a minute of silence, then someone came on the radio. “Reliant, copy. We’re headed back to base. Nice shooting, Zealot.”

That wasn’t Abel on the radio. That was Cain.  
My first test, and I had passed with flying colors. I whooped and yelled to Zeke, “Fuck yeah, we did awesome!”

“Yup,” Zeke said, joy evident in his voice.

I pondered the craziness of the past couple of days, the distractions, the self-doubts, the annoyances. All of those could fall by the wayside.

For a night, at least, I could celebrate.


	11. Celebration Preparation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All characters, except for mine, property of HamletMachine.
> 
> Thanks again for the comments/kudos! I really appreciate it.
> 
> Also, I wasn't going to bring this up, but since someone asked me in the comments I figured I'd address it. I'm not a...drawer. That's not something I'm good at. If anyone wants to draw any of my characters, that would be awesome as hell - I'm not going to ask for it, but I'm not a good enough artist to draw people, so...yeah. Just figured I'd address it given the comments.
> 
> The next chapter should be fun, too ;).
> 
> Enjoy! Time to get ready for a rad party!

The second we got off the Zealot, the party was on.

“Woohoo!!!!!” We stood atop our ship as screams rang out from below us, our ecstatic crewmates looking up at us. I grabbed Zeke’s arm and thrust it into the air.

“Enjoy it, man,” I whispered. “Tonight, we party like fucking rock stars.”

“I suppose I can take a night off,” he whispered to me. I could hear the excitement in his voice. “I mean, we did just save a ship.”

“Speaking of…” I pointed to where Deimos was standing, looking at us, an almost imperceptible smile on his face. “I’ve never seen him in the front of a room before...ever. Looks like he might want to thank you for saving his life.”

I gave a sideways look at Zeke, thinking that I may have detected a hint of a blush. I took his hand and we dismounted from the top of our ship to Deimos.

“Thanks,” he said quietly, his eyes unblinking. “Thanks for saving me.”

“N-no problem,” Zeke stuttered. I gave a thumbs up. Then, as the cavalry of other congratulators circled around us, I saw Deimos slink into the back, melting into the shadows.

“You’re the man!” Kama jumped on my shoulders jubilantly, sticking a fist in the air. The bigger redhead took me a second to catch, but I was able to regain my balance and lift him up.

“Yeah,” another fighter said as he patted me on the shoulder. I think his name was Athos; I hadn’t talked to him much. “You saved the lives of two ships today.”

“CHANUN!” I could barely turn around as Helios came barreling in, giving me a huge hug. “That was fucking unbelievable!”

“You were amazing,” Selene said with a smile. “Both of you.” I looked over at Zeke, who was receiving his own adulation from a couple of the Navs, including Ethos and Rati. I caught Praxis out of the corner of my eye give me a smile as he stood a bit separated from the scene.

“Thanks, guys,” I answered, my words slightly stifled by the cheering and moshing. “We’ll celebrate tonight, OK?”   
The way finally cleared so I could pull Zeke along with me back toward the direction of our rooms.

“Hey, Zealot,” we heard booming from the side. We looked up and saw Encke and Keeler both standing, matching smirks on their faces. Encke was Keeler’s height but just as well-built as me from up close. He was imposing; no wonder he had become such a highly regarded Fighter so quickly. Keeler’s eyes were sparkling next to him.

“That was tremendous work, especially from a couple of new recruits. Great, brave piloting.” He showed his hand to Zeke, who shook it, his small fingers crushed in Encke’s strong grasp.

“And I’ve heard about you,” Encke boomed, looking over at me, his eyes traveling up and down. “Chanun, correct?”

“Yes, du...I mean, sir,” I said, catching myself. Unlike his partner, Encke had not permitted me to address him casually.

“Well, after everything that Keeler has said about you, I have to say…” Encke looked at his partner with a shrug. “He lives up to your description.”

“Yeah,” Keeler said, smiling at me, his limpid eyes peering, trying to drown me with his put-on innocence and justness. “One of the most impressive fighters I’ve ever seen. You should have seen him fight hand-to-hand...it’s like his body’s made of liquid. Plus, now we know he’s got aim.”

“Aim, intelligence, perceptiveness, calmness under pressure…” Encke boomed over us. I looked at Zeke a little awkwardly; neither of us were used to being lavishly complimented like this. “Zealot, thank you for your service today.”

“Uh...it’s our job, sir,” I said, mentally slapping myself the second that slow drivel came out of my mouth. Way to sound stupid in front of the Leads.

“Well, we’ve been working really hard together,” Zeke answered. “We came in here thinking that we’d make a good team, so now we have to prove out our theory.”

“Well, you’re off to a great start,” Keeler said warmly. “Now, why don’t you take a rest. The other set of teams will go out on patrol tomorrow, so you have the day off. We’re going to have a group meeting in two days, though, just to regroup and analyze what you saw.”

“Makes sense,” Zeke answered. I just nodded, trying to keep my eyes off of Keeler’s as much as I could. He was just too freaking mesmerizing.

“I’m gonna shower before celebrating,” I said, waving goodbye to Encke and Keeler. “Come on, Zeke.” I pulled him to say goodbye. Keeler mouthed a “see you later” while Encke just gave us a salute.

“Let’s just get into the freaking…” My path was stopped by yet another Fighter keeping us from getting back to our bedroom. It was Cain.

“Oh, hey.” Cain sniffed at me and gave me a look that screamed “let’s talk alone.” I got his surreptitious message and nodded to Zeke.

“Yo dude, I’ll meet you back at the room. Cain and I got to chat about something.” Zeke, who hadn’t even met Cain before, just slunk away, clearly slightly indimidated. Cain knew it; I saw the smirk from the corner of his mouth.

“Cool Nav,” he said, turning back to look at me. “Damn fine pilot and knows his place.”

I crossed my arms, staring Cain down, not forcefully, but with enough intensity to know that this wasn’t the place to fuck with me. “What’s up, man?”

Cain leaned against a wall nonchalantly. “To be honest, I’m about to do something that’s going to ruin my rep if it ever got out, so don’t tell anyone.” He stuck out a hand. “Good job out there. Thanks for saving my ass.”

I stared at the hand, wondering if it would lead to some sort of hard squeeze, or reversal, or unforeseen injury. It did not seem menacing. I shook it. A strong grip, yes, but it seemed as if Cain was being genuine with his congratulations.

“Thanks…?” I said, a bit of a question latched onto the end of my statement.

“No problem, man,” Cain said, a vague expression on his face. It was like he only knew how to react when he was either extremely happy or sad, and the feeling of emotional neutrality was foreign to him. “Abel owes you his thanks too, but he’s being a baby right now. Crying in the room because he’s frustrated that he screwed up the maneuver he was trying to pull.”

“Uh…it was a tough maneuver,” I responded, trying to be conciliatory, but Cain brushed me off.

“No. It was something dumb, that worked once, and hasn’t since. He should have known better.”

I tilted my head at him and, inwardly, just relented any arguing with what was happening. From what I had seen and heard about Cain, he was an emotional roller coaster with unexpected peaks and valleys around every corner. I figured that I wouldn’t test him too much in this particular instance.

“Well, I appreciate you thanking me, man,” I said, moving toward the elevator. “Hopefully, I’ll see you later.”

Cain cocked his head at me and grinned, his sharp canines flashing. “Certainly, Chanun. We should have a private chat sometime.” 

I turned into the elevator as the doors opened and entered. It could not have gone up fast enough. I’d heard about Cain’s reputation with other Fighters. I didn’t want him to even have an opportunity to try and break me down. I owed it to Zeke to stay focused on the task at hand.

Well, mostly focused. Tonight was a night for partying, after all.

++++++++++++++++++

“Does this look OK?” Zeke asked me as he showed off a fairly tight green polo and black jeans. We had both showered and had heard the rumors of a small celebratory gathering happening in the mess hall that evening. I had to make sure Zeke looked his best; I WAS his Fighter, after all.

“Pants look good, do you have a less formal shirt, though?” I asked. I was going to wear a slightly nice black tank than normal and some tight, dark shorts. I figured that since Zeke and I would probably be the centers of attention, it was only right to show off some skin and bulge for the doting men sure to be at this gathering.

“You know, your body really isn’t that bad,” I muttered to Zeke as he changed his shirt. “You got a flat tummy, nice lats. You could totally catch a guy here if you wanted.”

“Ummm…” Zeke was giggling a little bit as he blushed. “To be honest, I’ve never kissed a guy before. Only girls. Although I’m pretty sure I’m not Kinsey 1.” He pulled over a really tight plain grey T-shirt that showed off his curvy, lithe physique. “This work?”

I smiled and nodded. “Totally, man. You look hot!”

“Hah, thanks,” Zeke responded as he stretched his arms arbitrarily. “You really think I’m handsome enough for some of the guys here?”

“Yeah, man,” I responded enthusiastically. “People here have expansive tastes, you’ll find someone.”

“Well…what if I like someone,” Zeke inquired. “What should I do to tell them that I like them?”

“Uhh…” I didn’t THINK that Zeke meant me, but then again, the adrenaline was still rushing through both of us after that mission earlier in the day. “Just ask him?”

“But what if he’s quiet?” Zeke persisted. “Someone who’s harder to reach?”

Phew, so Zeke WASN’T talking about me. I did sort of wonder who the apple of his eye was, though.

“Just let him come to you,” I said, repeating the advice my father had taught to me when I had first indicated my interest in potential romantic partners. “Definitely try to stick around him, say hi, be friendly, maybe a touch flirty, and at some point, you’ll get “Shy Guy Quiet Dude Sex.” I chuckled at the name I had made up. “And that kind of sex is one of the best types of sex that you’ll ever have.”

“Hah, Chanun. Thanks.” Zeke grabbed his room key and put on his shoes. “Shall we go?”

“Yup, dude,” I said as we left the room. “Let’s go to our victory party.”


	12. Quite the Soiree

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters, except for the ones I created, belong to HamletMachine, who is lovely.
> 
> PARTY TIMEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! :) And the scene is set for another interesting chapter to come.
> 
> Also, I wasn't going to bring this up, but since someone asked me in the comments I figured I'd address it. I'm not a...drawer. That's not something I'm good at. If anyone wants to draw any of my characters, that would be awesome as hell - I'm not going to ask for it, but I'm not a good enough artist to draw people, so...yeah. Just figured I'd address it given the comments. And of course, you would get credit for the art - I'd hype you up as much as I could. 
> 
> I might get a friend to do some voiceover work for these characters - that could help, perhaps. Not sure. Any suggestions, feel free to leave them.
> 
> And keep up the comments and kudos! This fic is a month old and has almost 200 views! Let's keep the trajectory going up!
> 
> \- Sleipy

“So, tonight should be interesting,” I chuckled as Zeke and I walked to the mess hall. “You raged a lot before you got on the ship?”

“No,” Zeke said quietly. “I’ve never been much of the party type…”

“It’s OK,” I reassured him, patting his back. “If you need anything, let me know. And you don’t need to do anything that you’re uncomfortable with. But, otherwise...this is our night. Have fun, man!”

“I intend to,” Zeke said with a grin as we approached the festivities. The mess hall’s lights were turned down, and a number of Fighters and Navs were milling around. I saw a fair few bottles on various tables; seems like someone had done shopping in preparation for such a celebration. Some intelligible music was playing in the background, the snare beat and synth echoing in my head. 

“CHANUN!” I heard a yell and Helios ran over to grab me, clad in a similar black tank to my own, a cup already in his hand. He was smiling wildly, his eyes sparkling. “Come on! Let’s party!” He dragged me to a table and sat me down, where I was surrounded by Selene, Kama, Sati, and a bunch of others. I thought I saw Ethos hiding somewhere, but my vantage point was blurred by Helios waving a cup, filled to the brim with something that looked like rum, in my face.

“Drink up,” Helios commanded, leaning back into me, an arm around my shoulders as I made myself comfortable between him and Selene. I took a sip, the sweet, spicy taste swirling in my mouth. It was freaking delicious, so welcome after a week’s worth of stress, ups, and downs.

I looked on my left and saw that Zeke was at a different table entirely, on the other side of the room. It looked like he was talking to Phobos animatedly about something. Deimos sat there, watching the two of them. I had barely seen Deimos all week, and now he was in a public place, being sociable, twice in one day. Strange.

“So,” I heard from my right. I saw Selene smiling at me, his white teeth contrasting with his dark features. “How does it feel to have saved two ships from being destroyed?”

“Uh…pretty fucking awesome,” I responded, hugging Selene a little bit closer as I took another drink from the cup in my hand. I looked into the vessel; the liquid was amber and tasted of cinnamon. I motioned to the left with my head, flicking it slightly. “Zeke's the killer pilot, though, I just hit my shots like I was supposed to.”

“Yeah, but if you missed…” Kama began, and then he stopped. It was probably not the best idea to crash the party with thoughts of death. I shrugged and sipped more.

“I’m lucky.” I was going to just do my normal thing, brushing stuff off and playing it cool. “I have an amazing Navigator, I’ve worked my ass off since I got here, and it’s all paid off.” I reflexively tightened my grip around Selene’s shoulders as Helios leaned back into my other arm. He looked at me, his excitement evident.

“You know what they say about all work and no play, man.” He suggestively began to rub my left shoulder. I could hear Selene snort next to me.

“Ugh, really Helios? In the middle of the mess hall?” Kama laughed and even the silent Sati flashed a smile.  
Helios just smiled and leaned on my shoulder, relaxing. “Sorry, it’s been a long day. I’m not necessarily thinking straight right now.”

“Well then, soldier, you’d better wake up.”

Encke clapped his hands on the table and Helios jostled, falling backwards, right onto his ass on the ground. The rest of the crowd started laughing hysterically.

Helios scrambled up. “Uhh…sorry, sir.”

Encke grinned and brushed him off. “At ease. You’re off duty. Just wanted to put a scare in you.” Encke wasn’t wearing his uniform; he donned a super tight olive green T-shirt that showed every muscle on his thick, 6 foot 3 body. I felt like I could stare at it all day. Encke was absolutely shredded.

He nodded at me. “Can I chat with the hero over here privately for a second?” I shrugged Selene and Helios off of my shoulders and stood up. We turned to walk, but then Encke stopped and turned back toward the table. He took a shot glass out of the pocket of his sweatpants, poured a shot of the liquor, and downed it, quickly.

“My commission,” he said. We all understood wordlessly. 

Encke and I went over to a secluded corner of the Mess Hall. We sat next to each other. I could feel his heat on my exposed body.

“Congratulations, again,” he said

“Thanks,” I responded, gulping.

“Keeler and I are very impressed by you, Chanun.” Encke’s tone was measured, composed. “He wanted me to tell you that he would love to see you tonight, if you had the time.”

My eyes bugged out a bit. What had Keeler told Encke? I thought he said that he was going to keep things quiet.

“Uhh…” I began, just feeling like I had to verbalize something in order to not look like a buffoon, but Encke cut me off.

“My opinion? Keeler wants to have sex with you.” I gulped a bit. Encke wrung his hands and looked at me. He seemed a bit more vulnerable than before, although he still maintained his business-like demeanor.

“Now, off the record, I’m going to give you the lowdown on Keeler. He is a really well-meaning guy who really does care for people, but he’s obsessed with appearances. He cares about what others think about him far, far too much. Hence why he sent me to ask you on his behalf. He doesn’t want to seem desperate.”

Encke paused for a second, almost as if to allow me to gather my thoughts and process everything he was laying out for me. Soon after, he continued.

“If you want to go visit Keeler, that’s totally not my problem, and you can feel free to do so. However, I’m also definitely willing to just go back to him and tell him that I couldn’t find you. Then, you could stay here with your comrades. It’s up to you.”

I pondered the choice in my head before realizing that it was essentially a false dichotomy, and, in truth, I only had one option in this particular situation. Whatever Encke and Keeler’s relationship in the past, it probably would not be the smartest decision to so blatantly flaunt that I was going to mess around with a man he clearly cared deeply about. He was my superior, after all; he could take it out on me professionally. 

Plus, why not make Keeler suffer a bit? He’d fucked with me, I may as well fuck with him a little, however blithely. I needed more times to gather my feelings about him anyway. If I was going to truly pursue him, I could do so later. Tonight was all about me.

“Yeah, I think I’m going to stay here,” I answered Encke. He nodded and patted me on the back.

“Good stuff. This will remain our little secret. And let me know if you need anything; I’m happy to help you out.” He smiled once more before patting my back. “You might be a special one, Chanun. I’m glad you’re one of my soldiers.”

“Hah, thanks, man,” I answered. I gave Encke a shoulder tap, a salute, and then returned to my table, where even more of the alcohol had been emptied into my comrade’s cups. 

“What was that about?” Selene asked me as I slid back in between him and Helios. I shrugged.

“Encke just wanted to ask if I noticed anything about the ship. He said they had received a weird mechanical reading on it when we came back to dock.”

“Weird,” Kama mused. He then yawned. “I think Sati and I are going to head out, by the way. We want to see if we can chat with some of the Blue team members before bed.”

“Cool,” I said, waving goodbye to my fellow new Fighter and Nav. They walked out, leaving me in between Helios and Selene, both of whom were wearing shit-eating grins.

“Ah…alone at last,” Helios mused as Selene giggled. I bit my lip, looking down at the two clearly horny dudes. They were both so hot in completely different ways, Helios with his pale muscles and ethereal face, Selene with his tight body. If they were going to throw the vibes at me, I was going to reciprocate. I deserved it after all. Plus, fuck it - it would be fun.

“So…now what do you want to do,” I asked as I felt one white hand and one brown hand rubbing my pecs and arms.

“Hmm…” Selene pursed his lips and then broke out into a smile again.

“Well, if you want to come back to our room, I’m sure that we could potentially find…something else to do.” I cocked my head at Helios as he said that, his goofy grin contagious. 

“What do you have in mind?” I let Helios lay his head on my shoulder as he made to whisper in my ear.

“A continuation of what you heard a couple of days ago in the showers.”

I blushed a bit despite myself; so he HAD known I’d been there. I kissed his forehead lightly.

“I’d be game,” I said, standing up, helping Selene rise as well, my big hand rubbing his dainty one. “Let’s head out.” 

We walked out of the mess hall, and out of the corner of my eye I saw that Phobos, Deimos, and Zeke had all disappeared. 

Good for Zeke, I thought to myself. Maybe we had each found a Fighter/Navigator pair to entertain us for the evening.


	13. A Little Hospitality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> /fans self
> 
> All characters except for the ones I've created belong to HamletMachine.
> 
> I like the way this played out - Helios and Selene have a lot of potential as characters and I'm excited to expand on both of them more within this story.
> 
> If anyone has any comments/kudos/ideas/whatnot, feel free to leave me a comment here on reach out to me on Tumblr - username is sleipnirsupernova.
> 
> Enjoy! Next chapter up on Tuesday.

We stumbled into Helios and Selene’s room and fell on the floor, a tangle of body parts and arms and legs. Selene started laughing as he lay atop me, the fabric of his thin shorts bulging in multiple directions. Helios got up and propped himself on his elbows, staring at me.

“Welcome to the Edifice lounge, Chanun. Enjoy your stay.” He moved a little bit closer and kissed me, softly at first, then with more passion. Helios kissed like some sort of succubus, as if with every suckle and touch of his tongue I lost a little of my own power and agency. He became more dominant, climbing atop me, driving me flat on my back as he passionately tasted me, his hands rubbing my arms and chest. Meanwhile, Selene was busy on my neck and ear, nibbling and licking, pleasuring me from a different angle.

“Uhhhhhhhhhhh…” I muttered.

“Oh, so surfer boy likes my mouth?” Selene asked with a smile, giggling as he licked and nipped at more of my face. “Helios, help to shut him up.”

Helios didn’t acknowledge Selene’s command verbally, but he did make out with me harder, sucking out my breath. I felt short of any type of oxygen, those strong arms and sultry eyes fucking making me feel all types of ways. I rubbed my own bulge as they both went to town, suckling my prone body.

“Seems like someone’s a little pent up,” Selene said as I could feel a warm hand push mine away, caressing my throbbing boner through my tight mesh shorts. “Helios and I could help with that.”

I tried to push myself up with one arm, shrugging Helios off of me a little bit, but he stayed firm on my back. “That’s good, because it’s been a long day.” I moved forward, bearing the weight of the other Fighter, and draped myself over Selene’s body. I kissed the soft caramel skin, lightly tickling his sweet, hairless skin with my tongue. I felt a pair of hands rubbing over my butt, working their way to the waistband of my shorts and then worming them down, tracing over my skin.

“Ooh…this is gonna be fun,” Helios muttered from behind me, cackling evilly. “Just like we had planned.”

In the back of my mind I sort of wanted to see how Helios’ tight butt felt around my currently pulsing cock, but for now, the reverse would have to do. I could feel Selene wriggle, his graceful, turgid form moving under me as I lifted up his tight shirt and caressed every muscle. He raised his arms as I pushed the fabric up his chest, moving it off of his lithe body. Behind me, Helios began tracing circles on the small of my back with his deft fingers, massaging my lats and inner things, opening me up a little bit.

“Ahhhhhhh…” I murmured as the intoxicating sensations began to overwhelm my mind, my hands working their way over Selene’s tight legs and groin, rubbing his growing bulge and tight butt. I could hear Helios shuffling above me, and all of a sudden I felt something cold penetrate my tight hole, Helios’ lubed up fingers worming their way into my body. I bucked forward, groaning despite myself, forcing Selene to be spread-eagled below me, ripping off any other clothing he had on and caressing his junk with two firm, warm hands.

“Oh myyyyyy…” Selene moaned as he ground back into me. I stuck a hand over my shoulder and felt a tube in my hand. I opened it, squeezed, and reached around to rub Selene’s cock, forcing him even further forward onto his chest, his butt sticking up in the air. I took a sniff; it smelled clean, as Selene had clearly prepped for such a situation. I licked my lips and dove in, tasting the skin outside of his pucker, nibbling and rolling my mouth around it slowly, my tongue darting in and around the region.

“Ahhhhhh….fucccccccckkkkk….” Selene’s moans made me more eager to please him, his voice fuel for the engine of my tongue as I drove deeper into his hole. Suddenly, I felt a weight behind me and a hot mouth next to my ear. 

“Get ready, I’m going in,” Helios whispered as he began to finger my hole tenderly, his hand pinching and rubbing in all the right spots. 

“Ahhhh…dude…” I had only allowed for myself to be penetrated once before; that was courtesy of Astor, back in training. It felt strange to feel someone behind me, his weight heavy on my back, his presence looming over me like a willow. I was ready, though. 

“Fuck me,” I murmured, a whisper that went straight to Helios’ ears. I moved my mouth out of Selene’s ass and nipped his neck, turning him over so he could see both of us, myself and Helios, indulging our carnal desires. I took some of the lube and rubbed it on my hardening cock, sliding on a condom I had snuck into my pocket earlier. I bent over Selene and touched noses with him, smiling. He was a true vision, his long hair wild and his thin, hairless body prone. I stuck my butt in the air as I came over Selene, allowing for Helios to get a grip. Then, I entered the Southwesterner, stretching his tight hole, kissing him to silence his moaning a little bit. From behind me, I could also feel Helios join the party, his thick cock filling me up, Selene’s mouth serving as a means to stifle my own moaning as well.

“All in?” Helios grunted? I nodded. “Good. Now, 1, 2…”

On “3” we both thrusted, starting nice and slow, building up a solid rhythm, all of us moaning and grunting, hands rubbing and twisting skin on one another. Selene’s face was a mask of pleasure, each moan getting higher and higher pitched. I was grunting and sighing and enjoying the sensations behind me, Helios’ strong arms wrapped around me, his cock hitting my G-spot with every single thrust. My entire body was shaking with the pleasure, my mind so thankful that these two had welcomed me into their bed. 

“Uhnnnnnnnn…” Selene and I both verbalized as I fucked him deeper, finding his prostate and mashing it once a second, both myself and Helios amping up our fucks. Selene looked at both of us, his eyes full of wonder, seeing two burly Fighters so vulnerable, our sheer power and strength on display with each thrust.

“Fuckkkkk…” I moaned. “I’m close, dudes!”

“Me too,” I heard Helios say from behind me. “I have an idea, pull out.” I felt a bit empty as Helios moved from behind me, his cock no longer stretching my hole to its fullest extent, but I did as he said. I pulled out from Selene and watched as Helios moved in between both of us. I ripped off my condom and circled up as Helios put a hand on each of our thighs, rubbing with a purpose. 

“Now let’s all…ergh…do this together.” I grabbed some of the lube and rubbed it on my hands as Selene brought me in for a kiss, groping my abs and my cock hungrily as he also attacked Helios on the other side. Helios kissed my next tenderly, moving down to my collarbone. We rubbed and rubbed and rubbed…soon, our right hands moved in unison to the circle of cocks, mine on Selene’s, Selene’s on Helios’, Helios’ on my large piece. We rubbed in time, using our mouths and off-hands to stimulate each other as we all got closer and closer…until…

“Fuckkkkkkkkk!” Helios moaned, for once his voice matching Selene’s high-pitched yelping. “I’m…I’m…” I put my mouth to his nipple and bit as he exploded, his cum fountaining and splashing all over his chest. The feel of the pulsing cock had a chain effect on Selene’s as he yelped, his own cock bursting, cum getting all over his chest. They both panted for a second; then, all eyes, hands, and mouths were on me.

Selene rubbed my cock as he kissed my chest and my abs. Helios dove under, taking my balls into his mouth, suckling at each of them. At that moment, it was clear to me that all these two men wanted were to me to cum. Who was I to turn them down?

“Fucccccccckkkkkkk…I’m…I’m…” I came hard, shooting my load all over the ready to please faces of Helios and Selene, their tongues out, lapping my seed up like dogs. Nine, ten, eleven, twelve…the wave of pleasure overwhelmed me, my pent up passion spraying all over them. I collapsed, totally spent, yet totally elated.

I felt one of the two guys above me wipe something on my chest. I looked up and saw Selene smiling, my sperm still coating his face. I sat up and kissed his nose, stealing some of my own cum off of him in the process. 

“Thanks for this,” I said. Selene grinned, his teeth slightly whiter than the were a few minutes ago.

“Oh, trust me, it was OUR pleasure.” He kissed me back. “A worthy celebration for a hero such as yourself.” I felt Helios hug me from behind as I sat up.  
“You’ll be staying the night, of course,” he whispered in my ear, kissing my neck softly. I smiled as I pulled the covers up again, sandwiched between the happy couple.

“Good night, Chanun,” Selene cooed, kissing me once more on the lips. 

“Good night, guys,” I responded, and we all passed out.


	14. Afterglow

I stirred hours later, my body still sandwiched between the Navigator and Fighter, our chests moving in unison as we curled and relaxed, the post-coital lightness of breath still pervasive in my being despite the many hours that had passed since our mutual climaxes. My neck was buried in the sweet, cinnamon scent of Selene, his hairless skin tangy on my lips, his body fitting into mine perfectly. Behind me, Helios twitched. I leaned back for a second into his musculature. 

“Up so early?” Helios whispered into my ear. I turned to face him for a second and he kissed me on the lips.

“I’m not leaving the bed, if you’re nervous about that, dude,” I chittered as I put my arm around Helios’ shoulders, kissing him deeper. Helios laid me down with a grin, a hand finding its way down to my crotch and rubbing slowly. He grinned, looking me in the eye, and I melted.

“God dammit Chanun,” Helios muttered as he rubbed a bit more deliberately, milking me slowly, my cock rapidly hardening into his warm touch. His other hand traced my body: my thighs, my lats, my abs, my pecs, my neck, my chin. I just leaned back and enjoyed, a lazy smile on my face. 

“Just keep fucking stroking bro,” I mischievously winked, exerting my passive power over Helios. I leaned back and sighed as Helios’ hands worked me over, his mouth on my nipple, his eyes barely breaking contact with my own. I could see him work his way down my body. I looked quickly to my side and saw that Selene was still sleeping. Helios caught my head quickly and turned it back to face him, pulling me onto my side, his eye contact piercing.

“Just focus on me,” he whispered. “Focus…” He reached to his right and grabbed some lube, squirted some onto his hand. He touched his forehead with mine, biting his lip as he took both of our cocks in his hand. I gurgled a bit, trying to stay quiet. 

“Helios…fuck…” I moved closer, putting a left arm around him, bringing the other Fighter into my chest, suckling at his neck, my hands running up and down the sides of his body, caressing his hips and pinching at his waist. I just looked and got lost in his eyes, again; fuck, I couldn’t stop talking about them or thinking about them. I’d never fixated on one part of ANY guy’s body as much before, but I wanted to just dive into those pupils, build a cabin, and live there.

Helios closed the gap between us again as he rubbed both of our dicks at once, his other arm around my shoulder, tickling my back, our lips touching every so often in between intermittent soft gasps and mouth movements. We touched noses once more as he rubbed faster, our cocks both pulsing in that one hand, pre-cum bringing us both to the edge.

“Here it comes,” I whispered, Helios nodding as well. I moved my head and kissed him, hard, my tongue penetrating his mouth in order to muffle my screams as I shot into his hand. I felt a vibration inside my jaw as Helios groaned and burst as well, our cum mixing together and making both our dicks feel so slippery as he finished off the mutual handjob, slowly decelerating as we both came down from the high. 

Helios broke the kiss and got up, walking to the bathroom. I lay back on my hands and looked over at Selene, who still seemed to be asleep. That whole experience was wonderfully blissful, the perfect way to start the day, but Selene’s lack of involvement still seemed a bit weird.

“Don’t tell him,” I heard Helios say as he came back next to me with a paper towel, cleaning off my messy cock. “He doesn’t need to know.” He took the paper towel and threw it into a garbage bucket at the other end of the room.

I opened my mouth; this whole thing seemed wrong and weird, but I bit my tongue. I wasn’t going to get into the middle of their relationship. I nodded at Helios, showing that I understood, and then sat up.

“I should probably get going,” I said quietly. “Zeke and I were going to at least try to do one VR run since it’s an off-day.” Helios nodded. I shook Selene, who rolled over and looked at me with his chocolate brown eyes, a lazy smile on his face. In the light, I had to take a pause. Damn, he looked incredible.

“Morning, sunshine,” he said, moving to give me a kiss on the lips. I turned slightly to the right, letting him make contact with my cheek; I didn’t want him to taste Helios on me.

“Morning, dude,” I said, my hands brushing his long hair, massaging his scalp. “I’m gonna head back, but thanks for last night,”

“Anytime,” he said with a grin, hugging me tightly. “And I really do mean that.”

I chuckled, kissing him on the forehead. I did the same for Helios, then headed out, walking back to my room. I checked my watch; it was already 11 AM, so maybe Zeke and I could get our VR run in before lunch. I walked down the hallway and knocked on our door out of courtesy, in case Zeke had an unexpected guest over.

“Zeke, you in there?” 

“Come in,” I heard from inside. I opened the door and saw Zeke on his bed, his face slightly flushed. He was still wearing his tight grey shirt from the night before, although he had changed into some more casual gym shorts. His head looked sweaty, his glasses a bit speckled with dust, and there were bags under his eyes.

“Fun night, huh?” I cracked, trying to break the ice. He looked at me with a halting smile.

“Uh…yeah.”

I saw some of the weirdness on Zeke’s face and decided that I’d rather not pry too much into what happened. Clearly, something had occurred, something big, but I’d let him come to me with that information.

“So, wanna do a VR run today? I was thinking maybe in like 20 minutes or so.” Zeke gulped and nodded.

“Uh…sure, Chanun. We can do it then.”

“Cool,” I responded, grabbing a towel and heading into the shower. As I scrubbed, I chuckled a bit to myself remembering the scene I had heard in here just a few days prior, and then the reality of the situation that had transpired in the past 24 hours. For someone who had come in not expecting to be the “sleep around” type, I’d already bagged three guys in less than 10 days. I was cool with it, though. Everything was done on my terms, nothing had interfered with the task at hand, plus…well, the guys were hot. No harm, no foul.

I toweled off and went back into my room, where Zeke was already in his Nav suit. He was lying on his bed, staring into space, still quiet, his specs pushed up on the bridge of his nose.

“You’re not gonna clean off, dude?” I asked as I grabbed my suit. He shook his head.

“I showered earlier.” 

I grinned, a knowing smile crossing my face. “Ah, nice. Had to get the cum off, I see how it is.” 

Zeke looked up with a severe stare. “No, Chanun, you do NOT know how it is.” The brusqueness of his tone surprised me a bit. Taken aback, I pulled on the remainder of my Fighter suit, stretching it over my upper body.

“Well, let me know if you wanna talk about it,” I offered. Zeke scowled and walked out the door. I followed him, walking wordlessly to the training area.

“You ready?” I asked. Zeke took off the craft silently and our training began. We moved fairly well for a time, zigging and zagging and shooting. I was hitting target after target and all enemy ships were being evaded. Until…  
“Shoot!” Zeke ordered as he moved right. I followed orders, then looked at my radar.

“Zeke, look out, we got a bogey on the right,” I advised. Zeke moved up, trying to gain latitude over it. Then, I noticed another red pinprick.

“Zeke, they’re surrounding us!” One of the ships shot at us, but it wasn’t a normal bullet; it was some sort of gas that was coating our ship. 

“What…” I’d never heard Zeke so unsure of what to do. I felt the ship get pulled down, then up. All of a sudden I looked at my radar again. Dozens of pinpricks, all over us. It was an ambush!

“I’ll get behind us,” I yelled, turning our turret to face the rear of the ship.

“No, I can hyperspeed out!” Zeke moved forward, dialing up the special reserve power that we had on our ship…but nothing happened.

“The thing they sprayed! It must have eliminated our hyper speed!” I shouted, realization crossing my face.

“No! It can’t be!”

“They’re gaining on us!” I got into position to shoot.

“Don’t shoot! I got this!” Zeke dove down, the line of ships following us. “Here it goes!” 

Zeke dialed up hyperspeed again. Nothing. 

Red light flashed throughout the cabin. And then, all of a sudden it faded to black.

“If this was a real battle, you would be dead,” a robotic female voice condescended to us through the cockpit. “Do better next time.”

“What the fuck, dude?” I asked Zeke. But he was already gone. He popped open the cockpit and got out, stretching and getting ready to leave. 

“Dude,” I started, but Zeke kept walking, just ignoring me. I sighed. At some point he’d have to talk to me, but I didn’t have time to care about his temper tantrum right now. I ran down the hallway to try and catch up to him.

“Zeke, want to get lunch at least?” He turned to face me and shook his head.

“Sorry, man. Not in the mood. And sorry back there, too.” It was decidedly unlike the perfectionist I had begun to get to know, the guy who’d been busted multiple times for working too long hours. A bug was in his head, something buzzing around that was interfering with his normal neural levels. I should have said something.

But I held my tongue.

“Cool, man. We’ll chat later. I’m going to get some food.” I turned around and left Zeke there, going to the Mess Hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the perfect facade begins to unravel on multiple counts.
> 
> Next update will be Sunday - I have some other obligations this week and don't want to get super behind on finishing chapters. Thanks, as always, for comments and kudos. I love seeing the full fanfics just in my comment section - happy to be inspiring people!
> 
> All characters, except for my own, belong to Hamlet Machine.


	15. Cain the People Person

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back!!!!!
> 
> It's been a really busy week with some real-life writing (and it may continue to be this way for the forseeable future since, well, a lot of things MAY be happening with the original I'm working on, and I still want to keep my backlog as high as possible) but I still was able to churn out a new chapter for y'all! Short, but oh so sweet. There's something about the new guy that Cain likes...
> 
> All characters except my own belong to HamletMachine. And by the way, the latest page? Keeler's back? And his eyes when he turns to face the departed Encke? ALL OF MY YES.
> 
> Next chapter should be out Friday/Saturday. If anyone has comments/kudos/other things, hit me up here or on Tumblr at sleipnirsupernova.
> 
> Peace!
> 
> \- SleipyNova

I had barely sat down for my food in the almost deserted Mess Hall when Cain, dragging Abel, schlepped over next to me.

“Abel has something he wants to tell you, Chanun,” Cain began. Abel opened his mouth, then closed it. His eyes looked red, like he’d barely slept the night before, the hours spent crying and rubbing his pupils.

“Chanun, thank you,” Abel said, his eyes at the table, not even looking me in the face. “You saved us and I appreciate it.” I could tell in his voice that the words were ersatz, but I wasn’t going to call him out on it. That wasn’t my style. Abel could come around to his own issues once he had the chance to figure them out himself.

“No problem, man,” I responded, keeping a laid-back smile on my face. “We’re all on the same team, here. If anyone dies, whether it’s my fault or not, I’d take it equally hard.”

“No one’s going to fucking die,” Cain crowed with glee on his face, something manic in his eyes. “Especially not Abel.” Abel looked like he was about to vomit as Cain put his arm around him.

“I’m…I’m going to go to the bathroom,” he sputtered as he wriggled out of Cain’s grasp and walked away, his hands rubbing his belly. I cocked my head at Cain.

“What’s his deal, dude?” Cain shrugged and stirred at whatever was on his plate.

“He’s still getting over his failure. He’s a perfectionist. I’ve tried to be the caring boyfriend that I am…” Cain snickered at that, biting his lip. “It’ll pass, though. I’m sure of it.”

“That’s good,” I responded, taking a bit of the chicken on my fork. “I don’t know Abel, but I get the vibe that he needs to be in control, and when he’s not, he freaks out.”

“You’re pretty fucking intuitive for someone who plays dumb all the time,” Cain mused, looking me in the eyes. “What’s your game, anyway?”

I raised an eyebrow at that accusation. “Game, dude?”

“See, I don’t think you want to fuck my Navigator. At least, not yet; otherwise, you’d piss me off more. Yet, you still intrigue me.” Cain gave me a sinister look, rubbing his hands. He seemed quite glamorous, with his lock of highlighted hair and his thin, sinewy arms. I actually felt like I could probably out lift him, to be honest, but he seemed extremely physically fit nonetheless.

“I’m not playing any games, bro, OK?” I tried to assuage any fears Cain had. “I don’t want to fuck your boyfriend, I have my own Navigator problems that I’m dealing with.”

“He won’t listen to you?” Cain asked. I raised an eyebrow and he leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head. “Give him a nice fuck, then. Make him know who’s boss and then you’ll be able to get things back to the natural order.”  
I shook my head. “First of all, I have no desire to fuck him, and secondly, we’ve worked well in the past before. I think something went on last night that he won’t tell me.” I had some more food and chewed, the warm sauce spilling down my throat. “At least, not yet. He’ll tell me once he’s ready.”

“Ah, your Achilles heel,” Cain said with a grin as he gracefully vaulted over the table, sitting next to me, his hand around my hip. “Sometimes, you have to take initiative about something if you think it’s important.”

“What do you mean by…” And then, before I could finish my question, Cain kissed me. His strong tongue permeated my mouth, my eyes wide in shock. His hand started rubbing against the small of my back and my sides. I melted into his touch. Cain kissed with roughness, with passion, with fervor. After a minute, he pulled back, then leaned forward.

“Three things,” he whispered. “Abel never knows about this, I just did this to prove a point and as a thank you for you saving my life earlier, and go fucking talk to your Navigator. Now.” As quickly as he’d started speaking with me, Cain stood up and walked away, leaving me to my thoughts.

I finished my food and got up, a single purpose in my mind. I thought I saw Praxis and Ethos looking at me out of the corner of my eye, but I ignored them. I didn’t have time for that. I had to talk to my Navigator. I had to figure out what was up.

I went back to my room and walked in. Zeke was curled up on his bed, eyes puckered shut, pretending to be asleep when in reality it was clear that he was deep in thought. I sat at the foot of his bed.

“Dude, I know you’re awake.” He faked silent.

“Listen, I get that there’s something wrong. And I hope I didn’t do anything to offend you or anything. But we’re a team. We need to help each other through…whatever it is.” 

“It’s not you, Chanun,” I heard from in the pillow below Zeke’s mouth, his words muffled. “It’s me. It’s all me. I’m sorry.” I heard a loud sob, the bedspread beating a mile and minute, in time with Zeke’s heart. I put a hand on his back and rubbed.

“Dude…we’re bros now, OK? You need to tell me what’s up. I can help.” Zeke rolled over onto his back, his eyes read as he stared at the ceiling.

“I just…it’s something I need to figure out first, OK? I promise you that I’ll talk to you when I’m ready to talk about it, but I’m not ready right now.”

I sighed and patted him once more.

“OK, man. No worries. Just…try to focus? Please? I don’t want to die in sims anymore. You’re too good for that to happen, bro.” Zeke looked up at me and smiled. Something kept it from being quite as sincere as past grins of his, but I still believed he was relieved to an extent.

“I promise, Chanun. I’ll get back on the right track.” He sighed and lay down again, and I went back to the gym to work out.


	16. Swimfans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait - it's been super busy. I might only be able to update a little less frequently, but I'll still try to do at least 1 update a week. Keep leaving comments/kudos and sharing, though!
> 
> All characters except for my own by HamletMachine.
> 
> My tumblr is http://sleipnirsupernova.tumblr.com/ - feel free to find me there and ask me stuff/talk to me!

After a day of relative relaxation, we all gathered by the newly built swimming pool for our next briefing. We were told to come in swimwear. I had a pair of trunks, but I noticed that many of my comrades were literally wearing underwear to swim in. Lots of bulges. LOTS of them.

“So, crew,” Encke began as all Fighters and Navs gathered near the pool. “After our mission last week, we discovered that the Terons might be hiding something on aqueous sub planet Nereid. They may also be working with the natives there, although this has yet to be confirmed.”

“Still,” Keeler picked up from where his partner left off. “This means that we need to do something fairly unprecedented in our time aboard the Sleipnir. Given that this planet is fully underwater, we have to issue a swimming test.”

“Now, those who do not pass will still be able to participate in any missions,” Encke cautioned. “We just need to know who will need the most lessons in survival swimming should anything bad happen.”

“So, we’re going to do something a bit different today,” said Keeler. “We got this pool recently; we may as well put it to use. Everyone in. We want to test your swimming strokes.”

We all jumped into the pool. I dove underwater, getting some of the chlorinated liquid in my hair. I saw Zeke next to me, wearing goggles; he shook his head off like a dog, ridding the droplets of H20 from his person.

For many of those in the pool at this moment, the water would be an enemy, something new to be conquered. For me, though, the water was home.

“OK, all hands on the wall,” Keeler boomed from above us. “All we need is for you to swim to the other side and back on my whistle.” I migrated toward the wall, my strong legs naturally propelling me to the starting point. My hand found the ridge and my feet moved up onto the bricks.

“On your marks…get set,” Keeler shouted. The room was silent. Then a whistle blew, and we were off.

I kicked hard, getting a nice underwater start, and then stroked. Stroke, stroke, stroke, breath. Stroke, stroke, stroke, breath. The rhythm was familiar from my time as a swim team member and as a lifeguard back in high school. My arms moved in a motion I was used to, my feet cut through the water like it was butter melted on a pan. Within a minute, I saw the opposite wall. I flipped, turning my legs over my head, and began my journey back to the other side.

At this point, I had no thoughts in my mind of the rest of the racers; I just wanted to complete my mission as speedily as possible. I swam stroke after stroke, propelling my body as quickly as possible, my arms pumping and legs kicking. Another minute later, I had made it back to the other side, popping my head out of the water, looking above me at two gaping mouths.  
“Uh…” I began, looking at Encke and Keeler, who were both staring at me. I lifted myself out of the pool and turned around. Then, I saw what they might have been noting. Other than one other person, no Fighter or Navigator on the ship was further than the very beginning of their second lap. I had outclassed the rest of the crew by a country mile.

“Well, Islander proved himself, I guess,” Encke mused. I noticed that the second person had touched at that point and was also jumping out of the pool. It was Ethos, his hair splayed everywhere, his breathing ragged.

“Ethos, you swim?” I asked.

“Back in the day, yeah,” he sighed out with a grin. “I did breaststroke in school. I love the water.”

“Cool, bro,” I said with a grin. “I love the water. Looks like we’re the best in that element.” Finally, some of the swimmers were beginning to complete their journeys. A couple of the Colonists were just finishing their first lap. We respected them by watching them dog paddle back, a sheepish expression on their faces. Cain and Deimos were two of the stragglers. Abel was middle of the pack, along with Selene and Zeke. Helios was very last to complete his swim, his face red, his mouth agape with lost oxygen.

“OK,” Encke boomed. “The two who finished quickly, Ethos and Chanun. We’ll talk to you for a second. The rest of you, please listen to Keeler, who will take you through the next steps.” Ethos and I stood up and walked with Encke. I took a second to look at Ethos’ body; it was strong, stout, and sturdy. He had no excess fat on him, no vestigial bulges; everything was solid and thick. Ethos was definitely in shape.

“It doesn’t shock me that you two did so well,” Encke said with a smirk. “Keeler told me he had talked to you about swimming before, Chanun. And when I saw your face light up when I told you about the pool, Ethos…” I may have imagined it, but I saw a flash of red go across Encke’s cheeks when he noted the Navigator’s reaction. He shrugged it off though and continued.

“Anyway, we’re actually going to be bringing in a special trainer to help the rest of this group learn the basics of survival swimming. You two, though, seem to be a cut above, so you’ll be exempted from those sessions. However, we have other plans for you.” Encke smirked, crossing his thick arms.

“You each have special skills we want you to teach to the remainder of the ship. Ethos, you are talented linguistically. We need you to educate the Fighters on how to read the basics of Coelanche. We have reason to believe that this new, aquatic destination is, or was, inhabited by Coelans.” Ethos nodded with a grin. Coelans were a relatively neutral race, but were common enough that many picked up their language. They were one of the five languages that all Navigators had to gain some sort of proficiency in during their time at the Academy.

“And Chanun, your ability in close quarters combat has stood out to us as well, so you’re going to tutor the Navs on how to defend themselves…should the situation arise.” I nodded. I’d been flipping through the book that Keeler had given me in my spare time. Most of it was pretty obvious stuff, but it was still good to get a refresher on good tactics for conveying information or whatnot.

“So, you two will have four days. While the rest of the crew is going through training, you can work on your stuff. Then, you’ll teach. For now, you can teach this one some of the basics while the rest get their sea legs.” Encke raised an eyebrow

Ethos and I both nodded our mutual assents and walked away, dismissed from Encke’s commanding gaze - although, and it may have been my imagination, his eyes lingered on Ethos for an extra second as we left. We exited the swimming area and went to our locker room, ready to shower.

“Crazy first week, huh?” Ethos asked me. I shrugged as I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my pelvis.

“Yup, pretty busy, dude. It’s been a trip. You doing OK?”

“Yeah,” Ethos responded with a smile despite there being a certain dimness in his eyes. Something was up with him, but like usual I shrugged it off.

We walked into the showers and turned on the water, respecting each other’s privacy. I recalled that when we had first met, Ethos had been fascinated by me, clearly physically attracted as well. Now? He seemed aloof, distant, as if he had moved on to other things. 

We faced our walls and didn’t turn around to look at each other until our showers had abated and towels clad our bodies once again.

“So…wanna work on our shit together?” I asked. Ethos nodded, his expression muted again.

We walked together, in relative science, to the Bridge - it was mainly empty other than a few senior stragglers and analysts. Ethos walked to a station near the left side, which seemed to be his personal cubicle. I followed and sat at the desk next to him.

“OK, well, what should I learn first, teacher?” I asked, trying to brighten the mood a bit. Ethos looked at me with exasperation.

“Before we start that…I just need to know something. And please, don’t take it personally.” I cocked my head a bit at the question, but kept my expression neutral.

“Your first day here…when we met on in the mess hall, and I hugged you and you…um…squeezed me. Why did you do that?”

“Uh…” The question was loaded. No matter what answer I gave, I’d look bad or uncaring or give off some other negative vibe. I’d just have to navigate this storm the best I could.

“I mean…it was my first day. And we’ve all heard about the reputation that the Sleipnir has, right? And I didn’t want to give anything up too easily, but I also didn’t want to just blow you off, because you were friendly to me when you didn’t have to be, and I do think that you’re pretty cool.” I finished the sentence breathlessly. Ethos huffed and looked up.

“Good to know. By the way, it took me a bit, but I found someone else, at least for now. And I don’t stray. So you don’t need to worry about me coming onto you or anything like that, especially after I saw you…” He didn’t even finish his sentence; I surmised that he was referencing the events of a couple of nights ago with Helios and Selene. Our affections were quite public, after all.

“Thanks, though. For saying that you think I’m cool, even if you don’t mean it,” he continued.

I shook my head. “I do mean it though, dude. You’re smart, and you’re clearly able to handle yourself. You’re sort of like the kind of guy I’d want to be if I were a Navigator.”

Ethos smirked. “You’re good with the flattery. But, for now, how about I show you some Coelanche?” We spent the next few hours poring over some of Ethos’ books as he ran down some of the basics of the Coelanchian alphabet. While I probably would not be fluent any time soon, at least there was a set number of characters: 33, to be exact, most of which made sounds I could pronounce other than one that, when Ethos uttered it, reminded me of a dolphin’s screech.

After some time, we stopped and he looked up at me.

“I still mean what I told you when we met by the way, Chanun. If you ever need anything, you know where to find me.”

“Thanks, man,” I said, patting him on the back. “And I’m sorry if…like…I offended you by not making a move or anything like that. I do think you’re attractive, though.” I was trying to be genial; I could see Ethos’ cheeks flush.

“Umm…thanks, Chanun. It means a lot.” He walked away, and I went back to the Mess Hall to grab dinner.


	17. Making Him Moan For Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy September!
> 
> Sorry I've been slow to update. I've been super busy with lots of stuff. However, I think you'll like this chapter a good deal :). Keeler and Chanun Round 2.
> 
> All characters except for mine are owned by HamletMachine.
> 
> This weekend is crazy with the holiday. I have a few more chapters done, although I'm definitely cutting into my buffer a bit. Hopefully I can knock out another chapter this week and post something after the long weekend.
> 
> Please keep leaving your thoughts/comments/questions either here or at my Tumblr, http://sleipnirsupernova.tumblr.com/.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> \- SleipyNova

“Hey, superstar.”

I looked up from my meal to see Keeler looming over me, a grin framing his fucking perfect face. I smiled back, although a tendril of wariness crept into my brain.

“Hey, dude. Excited for me to train your crew in a few days?”

Keeler sat down next to me, placing his own tray on the table. “Very much so. You know how much I enjoy seeing you in your element.” He slithered a hand onto my thigh and began to rub. I was a bit taken aback; even though the groping was well-concealed by the table where we were sitting, it still seemed unlike Keeler to be so forthright.

“Uh…I haven’t seen you a lot recently, dude,” I stammered as the stroking continued.

“I know,” Keeler said with a smile, a sing-song lilt in his voice. “We should change that. This evening.” The rubs got a little more pointed, Keeler’s deft fingers finding their way to my inner thigh. I couldn’t help but lean back a bit at the ministrations.

“But…Encke…” I protested. Keeler shushed me with a head shake.  
“Encke hasn’t come back to the room the past two nights. He’s doing him, so I want to do me.” He brought his face close to my ear. “And, to be honest, the past few nights, all I’ve been doing is thinking about you anyway.” That admission made me blush a tad, my brain swimming with crashing waves of emotional confusion.

“Uh…what…what do you think about me?” I questioned haltingly. Keeler teeth shined as he leaned in even closer.

“I think that I want you to come back to my room and fuck me. Now.” 

I looked at Keeler out of the corner of my eye, weighing the options in my head. I sort of liked having my sort of power over him, my ability to make him feel so passionately, something he had even admitted himself. Mere nights ago, I had turned down the chance to sleep with Keeler again.

And yet…it was reciprocal. And the fact that, even in this minor way, he was making his affection for me more public…it mattered.

I squeezed his thigh back and grinned. “Let’s go, dude.”

+++++++++++++++++++++++

He opened his door and I grabbed his waist, pushing him up against a wall. He gasped.

“Not so sudden, Chanun. Remember what happened last time I got…too exerted.” I touched noses with him, his hot breath on my face.

“Sorry,” I muttered, kissing him on the lips. He kissed me back. “I forgot.”

“It’s OK,” he purred, his hands finding their way to my suit’s zipper and making their way onto my bare back. “I appreciate the enthusiasm.” He kisses me again as my full torso was exposed. Keeler’s eyes lit up.

“Every time I see your body…” He ran his hands over my pecs again. I wrapped my arms around his waist and held him close, the heat of our embrace washing over both of us. I unzipped his suit as well, revealing his toned physique.

Keeler’s light eyes glazed over as I went for his neck, my teeth vampirically creating love marks under his chin. I picked him up, cradling him, not unlike the first time we met when his heart almost failed, and brought him over to the bed, straddling his body.

“Chanun…” Keeler whispered as I pulled off the remainder of his suit, revealing his tight, red underpants and the six inch penis that lay inside, waking up from its slumber and hardening by the second. I grabbed his legs and put them over my shoulders, intimately sliding my body closer to Keeler’s, our lips mashing together again. Just like a week ago, our love felt like it was foretold, written in the stars, our bodies so perfectly complimentary to one another. 

“Keeler…” I hummed into his mouth, his braid thrown over his back shoulder. He broke the kiss as he flipped onto his hands and knees, his butt sticking out in front of me.

“Eat it, Chanun,” he moaned. “Eat me and fuck me. Please…I need it.” The normally composed Navigator was rendered a wet, slutty mess in front of me, his whole body shaking as I ran my fingers over his underwear clad bottom. I took off the rest of my suit and pulled my underwear down, grabbing the lube off the side of the table and putting it on the bed for the time being. I drummed my fingers over Keeler’s lower abs and waistline as I pulled down his underwear, seeing his taut, clean, red pucker. I licked my lips and moved forward, running my tongue in between his crack.

“Awwwwwww….fuckkkkkkk…” Keeler bucked and moaned with impunity in my grasp. I kissed the skin outside his hole, nibbling and suckling, my own hole beginning to tingle as I conceptualized and personalized the pleasurable wails of my partner. After a couple of minutes of licking and kissing and tonguing, I came up over his back, my hard cock grinding against his hole, my mouth on his ear, biting his lobe.

“You ready for me, Keeler?” I whispered, his body shuddering under me, his taut muscles flexing. My hand was over his heart - the strongest, yet weakest, part of Keeler’s overworked young body, the responsibility of an entire ship’s staff weighing down on his arteries, constricting them, a potential death threat any time an emergency came to pass. And yet, I could feel his heart pulsing. Ba boom, ba boom, ba boom. It beat freely and consistently, like I was the force in his life that was normalizing things, balancing out his stress.

“Fuck me…unfffff…” Keeler moaned. I put on a condom, rubbed on some lube and entered him, my ship docking in its hangar once again. I started at a leisurely pace, but Keeler wanted to escalate things.

“I need you to HIT it,” he whined, grabbing behind him and wrapping his long arms around my lower back. “Hit the FUCKING spot!” He used a surprising amount of strength to push me deeper into his ass, the tip of my cock hitting his walnut-sized prostate. I could feel his body writhe.

“Harder! Dammit, Chanun! Harder!” Keeler was taking a more active role this time around - I could totally appreciate that. I plowed into him with more ferocity, more power, my thick cock expanding and contracting, the cream beginning to percolate within it. I could hear Keeler moan as his ass worked my dick, but I needed more. I wanted to see his face…and I knew how to make that happen.

“What…what are you doing?” Keeler asked as I picked him up, his ass still impaled on my dick, and took him off the bed. I walked him over to a wall on the far side of the room and pressed him up against it, the solid surface giving me a better angle at which to hit his special spot.

“I’m fucking you standing up,” I huffed with a grin on my face as I thrust once, Keeler’s high-pitched moan sounding like a girl’s. “Wrap your legs around me and let’s go for a ride.” Keeler’s long legs slithered down my back as I fucked him harder, the wall providing the perfect traction. Every single thrust made Keeler wince, cringe, flex, and moan. I was getting pretty damn close myself as my balls began to tense up.

“Cum in my ASS!” Keeler screamed. I licked my hand and rubbed Keeler’s cock as well, wanting to match our climaxes.

“Here…it…goes!” I moaned as I plunged deep, ripping my load into the condom that I was wearing, the squelching feeling so good as I completed my mission, exploding deep into the Navigator’s ass. I could feel his own dick twitch and explode, cum coating his lithe chest and my bulky abs.

I put Keeler down and embraced him again, kissing him on the cheek. I took his hands and looked into his eyes, a dreamy expression upon them. We collapsed together onto the bed, just laying there, the euphoria still pervasive in every cell of our mutual beings.

“Dude, that was better than the first time,” I commented. Keeler nodded.

“Chanun…thank you. I needed that. Soooooo badly.” I cocked my head and grinned.

“No problem, man.” We kissed once more and I threw my full condom on the ground, tying it up so no mess would be made.

“So…you should probably get ready for tomorrow, huh?” Keeler asked. I chuckled sheepishly.

“I guess so. Although…I could stay for longer if you wanted me too.” Keeler stood up, pressing my chest once more as he did so.

“Sorry, man, I think I need to take a break after all that…exertion,” he responded with a wink. “Plus, I have a meeting tonight with the Commanders.”

“No worries,” I said, shrugging it off. Keeler had clearly established the boundaries of our relationship. I was his therapy, his choice of entertainment and refreshment. While I still felt more for him than he did for me - at least, outwardly speaking - I’d have to deal with it in a different circumstance. This wasn’t the time.

I put my suit back on and left the room with a kiss goodbye. No more, no less.


	18. Navigating Self-Defense Class

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HIIIIIIII!
> 
> How are you? I've missed you!
> 
> I've been really, really busy - it's been kind of crazy in Sleipy world. Lots of outside writing stuff, lots of turbulent job stuff, etc.
> 
> However, I'm happy to let you know that I do have a couple more chapters to post. And I'll probably work on this slowly. But I'm always available at Tumblr if you want to chat - https://www.tumblr.com/blog/sleipnirsupernova
> 
> More fun adventures await Chanun. What will happen next?
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> \- SleipyNova

A few days later, there I was with all of the Navigators in the gym - it was time to teach them some self-defense.

“OK, why don’t you pair up?” I suggested. I nodded at Keeler, who smirked; he was my defacto partner for the night, even with Zeke in the room. Zeke quietly gravitated over toward Selene. I saw Phobos and Porthos pair off, and Abel with some new Navigator that I didn’t recognize. Was his name Orion? I couldn’t remember. He was tall, though, with a pierced upper lip and spiky hair.

“All right, so the number one rule of hand-to-hand combat is to get in the right stance.” I projected, trying to remember all of the rules of posture and vocalization that were in the book Keeler had given me. “Stand to the side, balls of your feet, hands in front of your face. Always bounce, always protect.” I got into position, as did Keeler and the rest of the Navigators; some of them were clearly more adept than others. I noticed Abel and Selene moved gracefully; Zeke sort of just ended up stumbling forward, but he gathered himself and ended up in the right position.  
“OK, now the most useful combination I can teach you is this.” I turned to face Keeler and punched five times, leading with my left. “Dominant hand first, go jab, jab, opposite jab, jab, opposite hook.” I sparred with Keeler, keeping everything just short of his face, but showing how the combo could mess with his rhythm were we to be in some sort of dangerous situation.

“1, 2, 3, 4, 5,” I boomed, the numbers going in time with each punch. I stopped and looked around the room. “Now, you dudes try to get into the right stances and punch a bit and I’ll…uh…give you help if you need it.” Keeler gave me an affirming nod; I was doing my job well.

I paced and watched the Navigators try to stay fluid and execute some punches. Many of them looked a bit sloppy, although the comfort level would come with time. I stood behind Zeke as he tried to dodge Selene’s punches, but stumbled a bit over his own feet.

“Dude,” I said, coming behind Zeke and grabbing his hips lightly, shaking them from side to side. “You gotta be a little looser in your movements or else you’re going to be screwed.”

“Sorry I can’t be as good as you,” Zeke hissed with some hostility in his voice. 

“I’m just trying to help,” I responded, maintaining my composure. I walked away, leaving Zeke to his own devices. He still needed some time to get over…whatever his issue was. For some reason, he was pissed. I continued my rounds with that kernel of thought in the back of my mind. Most of the other pairs seemed to be picking up my teaching fairly easily; I just walked around and made adjustments where necessary.

“Phobos, good work,” I complimented as I saw him execute the combination perfectly. He shrugged and smirked.

“Sorry that I’m making the rest of these losers look bad, I’m just too gifted.” I patted his back in a friendly way and wandered back to the center of the room. I looked at Keeler who nodded - tacitly, he was telling me to move on.

“OK dudes, great work so far,” I said, broadcasting my voice through the room. “Now let’s try some evasive maneuvers.”

We continued down that path for a little while, interspersing new lessons with time for practicing. I taught the group how to feint, to duck punches, and to utilize momentum effectively in their self-defense. By the end of the session, most of the Navigators were competent in the basics of self-preservation. 

“I wouldn’t run away from your Fighters anytime soon,” I said with a shrug and chuckle. “But if any of you end up separated, and you get confronted in a hand-to-hand fight, now you know what to do. Just remember your momentum and to roll naturally. Never go against gravity, and you’ll be fine.”

I dismissed the group and felt a hand curl around my hip. “Nice work, Professor,” Keeler said with a smile on his face. “You made me proud, you did a great job.”

“Thanks,” I replied, releasing a deep breath. “I think I kept it pretty basic, but still helpful for them.”

“I think you deserve a reward,” Keeler murred from behind me as he rubbed my thigh a little bit. I was about to lean into it and potentially return his affections…but I realized that there was someone more important I had to speak with first.

“Sorry, dude…I really need to talk to my Navigator,” I whispered. “He’s in a bad place, and like you said, we gotta be on the same page.” Keeler planted a discreet kiss on my cheek and nodded.

“Can’t disrespect that, I guess,” he replied with a shrug. “But you killed it tonight. Come find me later, maybe.”

“I will if I can,” I responded, waving goodbye as I jogged away.

“Yo, Zeke,” I called. He turned to look at me as he was leaving the gym. “Dude…can we talk?”

“Sorry,” he said, trying to leave. “I’m busy.” I grabbed his arm; it was time to settle this. Zeke wasn’t going to run away again.

“Dude, listen,” I began, pulling him over to the side a bit so we could get a little more privacy. “I don’t know what’s up, or what I did to offend you or anything, but I really need you to tell me. We need to make shit right, and right now I don’t feel like we’re on the same wavelength at all.”

“Chanun,” Zeke began, his eyes a little red. “I’m sorry, OK? But I’d really rather not talk about it. You wouldn’t understand. I’m not…mad at you, though.”

“It’s affecting your performance, though.” I reasoned that I could try and quantify things for Zeke in the one way it would resonate most: objective results. “You died in the sim, and your hand-to-hand still needs work too. Now listen,” I continued, taking a deep breath. “I know that, for whatever reason, you’re in a bad place, but can you just…like…compartmentalize it?”

I was surprised to suddenly feel lanky arms around me - Zeke had come in for a hug. I wrapped my arms around his body in bewilderment.

“Chanun…thank you. For being so understanding. And I’ll do better. I promise.” He looked into my eyes with his first smile I’d seen in a few days. I smiled back and nodded.

“That’s all I ask.”

“I have to go now, but maybe we can talk later?” I gave Zeke a pat on the back and thumbs up, waving him out. I turned back into the now empty gym and absentmindedly just went over to the pull-up bar, vaulting myself to start a rep when I saw a lone Navigator standing below me.

“Hey, Abel,” I said with a grinning wave, dismounting. He gave me a side nod as I came down - he was biting his scarred lip as if he was thinking about something important.

“Uh…thanks. For tonight,” Abel said, a hand behind his neck. Even when he was trying to stay casual, he’d strike poses, like some sort of model. I was not normally into much skinnier guys, but Abel had a light in his eyes that made me just want to know more, even though he had not been super friendly to me since I had joined the crew on the Sleipnir.

“No problem, dude,” I responded, a genial grin on my face. I remembered everything that Cain had told me - about how Abel was having some ego issues, and how he was acting stupid about some Fighter/Navigator political things. I figured I would be as nice as possible to him.

“And…I guess I owe you a lot of thanks for the stuff that happened earlier this week…I mean…I’ve been kind of a dick recently, and I’m sorry about that.” I raised an eyebrow, knowing exactly what Abel needed. I took a flask out of my flight suit pocket, took a swig, then handed it to him. I didn’t think Abel would rat.

“You need to loosen up a bit, bro, before you talk to me.” He nodded, taking the flask and drinking from it.

“Dude,” I began, putting an arm around Abel. “I kind of get it. You’re always in control, right? Even though Cain thinks he has it figured out, you’re the dude saving his shit every time he fucks up, right?” Abel tilted his head, taking another swig from it, and then nodded sheepishly, a grin on his face.

“So, now, are you like, feeling out of control?” I asked. “Because of what happened on the space mission?”

“Not really,” Abel responded, a shrug in his shoulders. “It’s more like that what original made me so in control might not be there anymore. My love was what gave me my power, and now it’s been a few months, and I’m like…over it, you know?”

“You’re not over Cain, are you?” I said, dumbfounded. Cain seemed to love Abel so much, his care was extremely visible.

“No, I’m not…but we moved super fast,” Abel said with a shrug as he drank more; my alcohol was clearly something he enjoyed. “Like…we literally fucked the first day we met, that’s not the way I normally go about things. And our passion carried us through in the past…but I’m just not sure that I can continue things the way they’ve been.” 

My eyebrows were fully off of my forehead at this point; Abel was dropping bombs about his personal life that could be qualified as nuclear. Clearly, there was no one else on this ship he felt like he could confide in; Abel had come to me to talk about this and had just been waiting for these circumstances to bring it to bear. I could respect that, and in a strange way I was honored by it. That Abel would confide in me, even though we had barely talked in the past…that meant SOMETHING, right?”

“Well, dude, sometimes good relationships take time, right? And you gotta get past that first wall when the initial attraction ends in order to figure out if it’s sustainable.” I put an arm around Abel's shoulders…and then, he dodged out of it and looked me in the eyes. A smile was on his face…a devilish grin if I’d ever seen one. He ran one of his hands down my chest.

“Or maybe, I just need to have someone else show me what I’m missing. And Cain does seem to like you an awful lot.” He gave me an upnod with a grin. I said nothing, still trying to process this situation.

Then, Abel kissed me. It was sweet, soft, just a couple of seconds. But it was tasty.

Still, I had to push him away.

“Abel, you seem cool, but I’m not a homewrecker,” I said, hands up, not telling him that, well…I’d kissed his boyfriend too. “I think you need to figure out what you want.”

Abel raised an eyebrow; he clearly was not used to being denied something that he desired.

“Sorry, Chanun, I didn’t mean to put you in this position,” he said with a shrug. “I can be discreet, though…”

“I’m not looking for something discreet,” I said, getting a little exasperated by all of the secret-keepers on this ship. First, Keeler, then Helios, now Abel. Why wouldn’t anyone just be public about their intentions.

“If you want to actually do something, and you want to be serious, then let me know. For now, goodnight, dude.”

I patted Abel on the back and left the sexually confused Navigator to his own devices.


	19. A Shared Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG I'M BACK!
> 
> Well, for a second, at least.
> 
> It’s been super, super busy for me - hence why I haven’t really been updating the story. I have two more chapters ready to go, but they don’t really tie up any loose ends so I’m not going to post them unless people really want them (and if you do, please let me know!)
> 
> I’m also playing around with a new story concept with two OCs. I need to start working on it, but it would be another BL story - one filled with suspense, a lot of diverse characters, and - of course - some hot action. I’ll let you know what the status of that is once I begin writing it.
> 
> I've decided to post the last couple of chapters for this one - and I may well end up ending it with a nice bow. At this point, it has yet to have one.
> 
> I'm also debating whether or not to begin RPing more on Tumblr as Chanun. I need a pic still (because, as said, I can't draw) but it might be fun! Feel free to hit me up with any thoughts or questions at my Tumblr (sleipnirsupernova.tumblr.com)
> 
> Take care!
> 
> \- Sleipy

I was walking back to my dorm, totally beat from the day’s events, when I heard Zeke’s voice from down the hall.

“Please…”

I skulked behind a wall and walked slowly, figuring that my partner might appreciate some privacy in this situation, although I still wanted to keep an eye out in the case that someone was messing with him. All I saw, though, was Zeke with Deimos, who was leaning against the wall with a bemused expression. Deimos shook his head.

“Sorry. I can’t.” His voice barely rose above a whisper, a soft hum. Zeke looked exasperatedly at him and went into our room, slamming the door shut. I turned the corner as if I had just made it to the hallway.

“Hey, Deimos,” I said with a wave. Deimos did not respond; he left, quickly, moving briskly back down the corridor. I shrugged and entered my room, where Zeke was sprawled on his bed, sniffling.

“Uh…I can come back later,” I said, trying to maintain some sort of politeness for Zeke’s feelings.

“No,” I heard Zeke respond, his voice muffled by both a pillow and his own sniffles. “You can stay. I’m…I’m sorry.”

“It’s OK…” I said as I sat down next to Zeke, putting a hand on his back. “You wanna talk about it, dude?”

“I just…how is it so easy for you?” Zeke turned over, facing me as he sat up.

“What do you mean, man?” I asked.

“To…have sex? I mean, I saw you with Selene and Helios, they just flocked to you with a snap of your fingers. All the Navigators were sooooooo excited for your session with them tonight, too. And I just want ONE FREAKING GUY to like me, and he won’t.” Zeke sat up, feet on the bed, his cries still audible. I sat next to him, wrapping one of my arms around his shoulders, bringing him closer.

“Dude…Zeke…some guys just suck, you know? You can’t let them get you down.”

“I just don’t know what I’m doing…I mean, I haven’t even kissed a boy before…or a girl for that matter…he probably thinks I’m such a fucking nerd, a useless piece of shit…”

“This doesn’t sound like the Zeke I first met,” I said, still trying to be comforting, but adding on a bit of a didactic tone; maybe that leadership book Keeler had given me was rubbing off a bit. “That Zeke would have seen this as another problem to be fixed, something to be solved, not a mountain that couldn’t be climbed.”

“It’s like figuring out an equation without even knowing the numbers, though,” he complained further. “I mean…sure, I’ve read about sex and I’ve…well…watched sex…but to do it? I just…” I sighed.

“Well…what if I showed you how it’s done?” Zeke looked at me, a dumbfounded expression on his face.

“I mean…are you saying that you’d…”

“I’m not going to fuck you,” I responded, shaking my head. “At least not tonight. You need some practice for that, although I might have the tools necessary to help you out.” I snickered to myself at the joke I’d made before gathering myself and continuing. “But I’m your Fighter, and you’re my Navigator. And this is affecting your work, whether you admit it or not. So it’s my responsibility to help you out.” 

“I get where you’re coming from,” Zeke said with a shaky nod. I grabbed his waist and moved him a bit closer to me so that our bodies were touching.

“OK…so now, I’m going to kiss you…if that’s all right, anyway.” Zeke said nothing, his eyes blank and staring into mine. I bent down and touched noses with him.

“Here goes,” I hummed, and I planted a kiss on his lips, a soft peck. Then I retreated. I came forward again, tasting his soft, untouched mouth, running my tongue along his oral crevice. I took a breath, then dove in deeper, invading Zeke’s maw. To his credit, he kept pace, not opening too wide, not being too lazy with his mouth movements. We kissed for a minute, two minutes, then I pulled out. A huge grin was on my partner’s face.

“That…was…” He grabbed my palm and put it on his left pec. I could feel his heart beating out of his skin. “I mean…I…”

“Now you can say that you’ve been kissed, man,” I said with a smile and a shrug. “Feel better?”

“Uh…yeah…I mean…thanks.” Zeke looked up at me expectantly. “Can…can we…?”

I moved forward again and cupped his head, moving him down onto the bed behind him, our lips locked in something beautiful, my body grinding slowly and rhythmically against his. my fingers ruffling his hair. His specs rubbed against my face, and I took them off, putting them on our bedside table.

“Chanun…thank you. And…I’m sorry for being so bad recently. It’s…Deimos.” Zeke gulped. “Something happened last week. We had a bit to drink, and we got so close, but…Cain came.” Zeke sniffled again. “He just said ‘Deimos, come,’ and then he was gone. Didn’t even say goodbye to me.”

I slid off of Zeke’s body and came up behind him, spooning him, my strong arms wrapped around his slender chest, my legs holding him tightly. “I’m sorry, man. But you’ll have other chances to talk to Deimos, right?”

“I guess,” Zeke said with a shudder. “But now he’s avoiding me.”

“Well, let me know if you need any help,” I added, giving Zeke a kiss on the cheek. “I’m your Fighter. I’m here for you.”

Zeke yawned. “I really appreciate it, Chanun.”

“Ready for bed?” I asked.

“Yeah, but…if you don’t mind…if it’s not too uncomfortable…could you…”

“I’ll sleep here. I won’t let you go. Don’t worry about it.”

Zeke turned off the light, came back to me, and we snuggled all evening long, my Navigator in my arms, our breaths one and the same.


End file.
